(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index still concedes a little ground at the close of this Wednesday, October 29 while the American Federal Reserve is expected to once again lower its key rates.

The Paris Stock Exchange has once again run out of fuel. At the close of this Wednesday, October 29, the CAC 40 fell by 0.19%, but managed at the last minute to preserve the threshold of 8,200 points, to end its run at 8,200.88 points.

Investors once again showed caution ahead of several meetings this Wednesday, notably the outcome of the monetary policy meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), at 7 p.m. A new rate cut of a quarter of a point is fully accepted by the market. According to the CME Group’s Fedwatch tool, market participants assign a probability of 99.9% to such a decision.

“The decision is clear. The Fed will reduce its key rate by a quarter of a point (percentage), bringing it within its target range of 3.75% to 4%, and should consider a further reduction in December, although this is less certain, because it depends on economic performance at the end of the year,” notes Vincent Reinhart, Chief Economist at BNY Investments.

“But how will the Fed handle this situation without any data? With the federal government shutting down, data is scarcer, leading to a somewhat ironic conclusion: a data-dependent Fed might actually be more dovish. The absence of official employment data increases uncertainty about the state of the private sector, making preemptive rate cuts more attractive. Additionally, with the government releasing only limited inflation data, the Fed will lack made to test the theory according to which customs duties will only have a one-off effect on prices”, adds the market specialist.

Emeis in good shape, Bic in red

The market will also monitor the publication of the results of the American tech giants in the evening. Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta will deliver their copies this Wednesday, Apple and Amazon will follow Thursday evening. Still on Wall Street, graphics processor specialist Nvidia surpassed the flagship threshold of $5,000 billion on the stock market as soon as the American markets opened.

In Paris, Airbus will publish its results this evening before a new wave Thursday morning, with Schneider Electric, Totalenergies, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole SA.

Excluding the CAC 40, Bic suffered (-7.9%) after once again lowering its forecasts for the current financial year. The former Orpea Emeis jumped 9.3% after publishing an increase in its occupancy rates in the third quarter.

On other markets, the euro is stable against the dollar at 1.1637 dollars. Oil rebounds after the announcement of a surprise decline in weekly oil stocks in the United States. The December contract on North Sea Brent gained 0.9% to $64.43 per barrel while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York also gained 0.9% to $60.69 per barrel.