(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange closed sharply lower this Friday evening, with the CAC 40 falling below 7,300 points to start the year 2025. The flagship Parisian index lost more than 1.3% over the first two sessions of 2025.

Investors would have preferred a better start to the year for the Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 ended down 1.51%, at 7,282.22 points on Friday evening, weighed down by the poor direction of its luxury sector. The declines in Stellantis and Arcelormittal have also undermined the morale of French operators.

The Paris Stock Exchange was also unable to count on the support of Wall Street this Friday, which was in positive territory for the first time this year, on more than honorable grounds. At the close of the European stock markets, the Dow Jones rose by 0.5%, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rebounded by more than 1%, the three major indices trying to end a series of four sessions in the red.

Better than expected manufacturing activity in the United States

American operators reacted to better-than-expected manufacturing activity in December. The ISM manufacturing index (often considered more relevant than the PMI index) stood at 49.3 in December compared to the consensus 48.4 and after 48.5 in November. But for all that, American manufacturing activity continues to deteriorate since the threshold of 50 marks the border which separates contraction and expansion of activity.

“After stagnating for most of the past two years, the ‘production’ and ‘new orders’ components of the ISM manufacturing report have entered a growth phase. However, caution remains in place regarding the ’employment’ component, which suggests that jobs continue to be lost while tariff uncertainty remains a concern, particularly for companies with international supply chains and for those whose exports are an important source of revenue. , advance the ING economists.

Over the first two sessions of 2025, the CAC 40 therefore yields 1.33%, after having already returned 2.15% in 2024…

A luxury that does not shine

On the value side, luxury undermined the trend still under pressure after the publication of poor manufacturing statistics published Thursday in China, an important market for this sector. Red lantern of the CAC 40 this Friday evening, Kering dropped 4.9%, followed by LVMH (-3.8%) when Hermès returned 2.8%.

Arcelormittal returned 4.7%, also penalized by its exposure to China. The issue was also battered by the decision of American President Joe Biden to want to block the planned takeover of the American steel giant US Steel by its Japanese counterpart Nippon Steel.

The spirits sector was also under pressure, with Rémy Cointreau giving back 5% while Pernod Ricard fell 3.1%, while the US public health officer wants to put cancer warning labels on alcohol bottles.

Stellantis was not spared either, ending the week with a sharp decline of 3.5%, while some of its electric vehicle models which benefited from a tax credit for purchases in the United States did not appear. no longer in the new US government list.

Airbus lost a little less than 1%, while the aeronautical group narrowly missed its annual delivery target, despite a final push in December, according to information reported by Bloomberg.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro increased by 0.3% to 1.0298 dollars. As for oil, it is starting to rise again. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, gained 0.8% to $76.52, while its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in February, rebounded by 1.2% to 74.03 dollars.