The Paris Stock Exchange fell again Thursday (-0.47%) in the first exchanges, preparing feverishly for the figures on inflation in the United States expected Thursday, and despite the well-received results of the luxury giant LVMH.
The star CAC 40 index fell 25.65 points to 5,805.55 points around 9:45 a.m., the day after a decline of 0.13%, its fifth in a row.
LVMH kicked off the third quarter results season after the close on Tuesday, well ahead of the other CAC 40 companies. The new strong increase in turnover carried the entire sector, which a prominent place in the CAC 40.
Economic news is still dominated by the fight against inflation, on the eve of the American CPI indicator for the month of September. From Wednesday, investors will learn about producer prices in the United States.
After the Paris Stock Exchange closes, they will also read the minutes of the last meeting of the American Central Bank’s monetary policy committee, the “minutes”. At this meeting, which ended on September 20, the Fed once again raised its main key rate by 0.75 percentage points in order to curb credit, economic activity and, ultimately, inflation.
However, “calming demand with more restrictive financial conditions also exposes us to the emergence of financial risks that were not necessarily anticipated”, notes Sebastian Paris-Horvitz, director of research at Banque Postale AM.
In particular, he underlines the tensions in England over whether or not to extend the Central Bank’s market support measures, after the tensions arising from the new budget presented in September.
LVMH keeps its shine
The world number one luxury rose 1.75% to 621.30 euros per share after the announcement of its quarterly results. LVMH’s sales continued to rise to 19.75 billion euros in the third quarter, at the same pace of growth as since the start of the year and the group remains “confident in the pursuit of growth” despite the economic and geopolitical context. Since January 1, however, the title has lost another 15%.
It led Hermès, which took 1.47% to 1,279.50 euros, but also other companies close to the luxury sector such as L’Oréal (+0.53% to 329.25 euros), or EssilorLuxottica (+0 .95% to 151.80 euros).
Banks lagging behind
The banking sector was poorly oriented as since the start of the week, with losses of 2.56% to 41.67 euros for BNP Paribas, 2.27% to 9.14 euros for Crédit Agricole or even 2.18 % at 20.90 euros for Societe Generale.
Other values very linked to economic activity such as car manufacturers (Renault -2.72% to 29.90 euros), shopping centers (Unibai-Rodamco-Westfield -2.50% to 40.72 euros) were also down sharply.
Eutelsat retreats after its results
The European satellite operator Eutelsat announced on Wednesday a turnover down 4.5% over one year on a comparable basis in the first quarter of its staggered 2022-2023 financial year, to 287.4 million euros, confirming however “all” of its objectives for the current financial year and “the following ones”. The action fell 2.14% to 8 euros, down 25% since January 1.
The company announced at the end of July a merger project with the British OneWeb and its constellation, which was poorly received by investors.