Amid a flurry of quarterly results, the Paris stock market lost 0.4% this morning around the 8060-point mark, penalized by declines from Dassault Systèmes (-5.5%), Pernod Ricard (-2.7%), Hermès (-2.5%) and Carrefour (-2.4%).

This morning, investors took note of a deterioration in business sentiment in France between March and April, with the Insee synthetic indicator dropping one point to 99, and thus falling back to just below its long-term average (100).

This deterioration is the result of the less favorable economic situation in all sectors of activity, with the exception of retail trade. The manufacturing and services indices both fell by three points to 100.

The markets are now awaiting the release of US GDP, scheduled for 2.30pm, a week ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting. The consensus forecast is for annualized growth of around 2.5%, following a 3.4% gain in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Investors will also take note of weekly jobless claims on the other side of the Atlantic in the early afternoon.

Pending the release of US GDP, disappointing forecasts from Meta Platforms are likely to weigh on the trend and jeopardize the recent surge in optimism that had surrounded the technology compartment

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram published online quarterly results on Wednesday evening, but unveiled lower-than-expected forecasts, causing its stock to plunge 16% in electronic trading.

Heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft, which will publish their financial statements later in the evening, are also expected to fall when Wall Street opens.

The stock market is also animated by numerous earnings releases in Paris and the rest of Europe, with announcements from leading groups such as Hermès, Pernod Ricard, Sanofi, Schneider and Unilever.

In addition to the concerns raised by Meta's disappointing outlook, STMicroelectronics posted a mediocre performance this morning, reporting weaker-than-expected figures for the quarter and forecasting a 26% drop in second-quarter sales.

Hermès International, meanwhile, reported sales of 3.8 billion euros for the first quarter of 2024, up 17% at constant exchange rates (CER) and 13% overall, 'with solid activity in all geographic zones'.

Dassault Systèmes reports first-quarter 2024 non-IFRS EPS up 12% to 0.30 euro at constant exchange rates, with a non-IFRS operating margin of 31.1%, up 50 basis points at constant exchange rates and ahead of target.

Pernod Ricard posted third-quarter 2023-24 sales of 2.35 billion euros, down 2% on a reported basis and stable on an organic basis (+2% excluding Russia), with volumes up by around 1% after four consecutive quarters of decline.


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