The Paris stock market (+0.3% to 7,100) has seen its lead melt away since 4pm, but is now up for the 11th time (out of 13) since January 2, making it one of the longest bull runs (cumulative gain of +9.7%) without a 0.5% retracement in history, and certainly the longest run at the start of a year since the Paris stock market began.
The CAC40, which briefly tested 7,115, had well anticipated the publication of a series of indicators confirming the trend towards slowing inflation, thanks to the clear downturn in energy prices.

According to the professionals, reaching the target level of 7,085 points could represent the culmination of a first medium-term objective... but the rise continues inexorably.
As for the CAC40 'GR', it has reached 20,900 and is now just 0.5% away from its absolute record of January 5, 2022: for technical analysts, even a 1% gap is enough to characterize a historic double-top in the event of a pullback from the day's highs.
But with 48 hours to go before the '3 Witches' session, everything will be done to keep the indexes at their zenith.
It looks a little laborious on Wall Street, as the Dow Jones gives up -0.5% and the S&P500 -0.2%, but investors are rushing to Europe, and there's no stopping the groundswell.

In the United States, overall producer price inflation slowed sharply to -0.5% in December 2022 compared with the previous month, but core inflation rose by 0.1% excluding food, energy and commercial services.
Over the last twelve months, producer prices rose by 6.2% on a reported basis and by 4.6% excluding food, energy and commercial services, after annual rates of 7.3% and 4.9% respectively in November.
US retail sales fell more than expected in December 2022, contracting by 1.1% after a 1% decline the previous month, according to the Commerce Department.

Excluding the automotive sector (vehicles, equipment and service stations), U.S. retail sales contracted by 0.7%.
Following a 0.6% drop in November 2022, U.S. industrial production fell again last month, by 0.7%, according to the Federal Reserve, a much steeper decline than the average economist expected.

In detail, manufacturing output contracted by -1.3% and mining and quarrying by 0.9%, while utilities output jumped by 3.8%, as cold temperatures boosted demand for heating.
Production nevertheless rose by 1.6% year-on-year, with energy (gas and oil) playing a key role.
The industrial capacity utilization rate fell by 0.6 points to 78.8%, a level 0.8 points below its long-term average (1972-2021).

Investors also took note of the final figures for consumer prices in the eurozone for December: the annual inflation rate stood at 9.2% in December 2022, compared with 10.1% in November, according to Eurostat, which thus confirms its flash estimate for the final month of last year.
The European Union's annual inflation rate stood at 10.4% in December 2022, compared with 11.1% the previous month, with the lowest rate observed in Spain (5.5%) and the highest in Hungary (25%).

These figures were very well received on the bond front, with further easing of -12pts on our OATs to 2.417%, -10pts on Bunds to 1.9880% and on Spanish Bonos (-14pts to 2.927%), while Italian BTPs erased almost -20pts to 3.695%.
The US economy also improved, with T-Bonds down -13.5pts to 3.400%.
The dollar fell back -0.5% to retrace its annual low at 1.0870E.
Note a new bullish push for oil, with Brent crude at $87.2 in London (+0.7%).

In French company news, Renault Group announced its worldwide sales figures for 2022. They amount to 2,051,174 vehicles, down 5.9%.

Stellantis has signed an agreement with Terrafame to supply nickel sulfate for electric vehicle batteries.

BNP Paribas reports receipt of regulatory approvals for the finalization of the sale of its US subsidiary Bank of the West to BMO Financial Group, a transaction for which an agreement was announced in December 2021.

Lastly, Pierre & Vacances last night published first-quarter group sales of 390.7 ME, up 9.9% on the same period last year.

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