(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index closed slightly higher this Monday, October 13. Donald Trump opted for a less vindictive tone towards China, assuring that “everything would be fine” with the country. In France, Sébastien Lecornu announced his new government and will deliver his general policy speech on Tuesday.

The Paris Stock Exchange begins the week by regaining some color. Its flagship index, the CAC 40, gained 0.21% to 7,934.26 points at the close of Monday October 13.

On Friday, the Parisian index had returned more than 1.5%, dropping like all the world’s places at the end of the session after the American president threatened to reestablish “massive” customs duties of 100% on Chinese imports. This projection then served as a response to Beijing’s announcement the day before of restrictions on access to its rare earths.

As is often the case, Donald Trump then added water to his wine. On Sunday, on his Truth Social network, he posted the following message: “Don’t worry about China, everything will be fine! The highly respected President Xi has just gone through a bad patch. He doesn’t want depression for his country, and neither do I. The United States wants to help China, not harm it!”

“Trump did what he has done so many times before: he pressed the ‘TACO’ button. Abbreviation used by traders: Trump Always Chickens Out.” And just like that, market indigestion turned into a mini adrenaline rush,” points out Stephen Innes of Spi AM.

On Wall Street, the indices are rebounding significantly after suffering at the end of the week. The Dow Jones gained 1.3%, the Nasdaq rose 2% while the S&P 500 gained 1.5% at the close of European markets.

Politics and earnings season

Investors in France also took note of the formation of the new government, announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. The latter was himself renamed Matignon by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, Friday evening. Roland Lescure was appointed (as in the previous and very short-lived government) to head the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The new executive is supposed to present a finance bill for 2026 on Tuesday morning after which Sébastien Lecornu will hold his general policy speech in the afternoon. The National Rally and La France insoumise have already warned that they will censor the new government.

The results season will open this Tuesday for CAC 40 companies with Publicis which will reveal its third quarter turnover before the opening of the European stock exchanges, and LVMH will do the same after the close of the Paris market.

Trump’s New TACO

On the value side, cyclical stocks rebounded like STMicroelectronics which gained 3.1% or Stellantis which regained 2.8% after dropping 7.3% on Friday.

Excluding the CAC 40, Nexans returned 9.3% after announcing that it would part ways with its general director, Christopher Guérin, the architect of the company’s recovery.

Exosens gained 10.5% while around 10% of its capital will change hands, at a price reflecting a premium of 24% compared to its price on Friday.

Medincell rebounded more than 21% as its product Uzedy was approved to treat bipolar disorder.

The euro lost 0.2% against the dollar to 1.1575 dollars. Oil is moving forward. The December contract on North Sea Brent rose 0.9% to $63.30 per barrel while the November contract on WTI listed in New York advanced 1% to $59.52 per barrel.