The Paris Bourse has literally been stuck around 8,155 (+0.0.5% to +0.1%) since 3:45pm: the CAC's symbolic gains seem quite modest compared to the progression of the US indices, with gains ranging from +0.5% for the Dow Jones, +0.7% for the S&P500 (0.2% off its highs) and +0.8 to +0.9% for the Nasdaq.

The gaps have remained insignificant since 9 a.m. this morning in Paris, with the CAC gaining at best +0.3% around 10.15 a.m.
The CAC index remains afloat thanks to Renault (+3.7% and a test of the 50E mark) followed by Eurofins Scientific and St Gobain (+1.7).
Investors took note of a series of statistics on Thursday: the US trade deficit widened to $68.9 billion in February, compared with the previous month's $67.6 billion (which was revised from an initial estimate of $67.4 billion), according to the Commerce Department.

This 1.9% month-on-month increase in the deficit reflects a 2.2% rise in U.S. imports of goods and services, to $331.9 billion, while U.S. exports rose by 2.3% to $263 billion.

The Labor Department announced that 221.000 new jobless claims in the USA for the week ending March 25, up 9,000 on the previous week's revised figure (212,000 instead of 210,000).

Macro index publications began this morning with the HCOB PMI composite index of overall activity in France: it recovered from 48.1 in February to 48.3 in March, signalling the smallest drop in private sector activity since the start of the current period of contraction, which began ten months ago.

In contrast to the decline in activity, the contraction in overall new business volumes accelerated across the private sector as a whole, reflecting an accentuated downturn in demand in both manufacturing and services.

In the Eurozone this time, the HCOB composite PMI index for overall activity in the Eurozone stood at 50.3 in March, compared with 49.2 in February.
Growth in the private sector in March was, however, only marginal, with continued contraction in the manufacturing sector offsetting the impact of only moderate growth in the services sector.

Bond markets were little changed after the flurry of figures detailed above: US T-Bonds, which eased -1.5pts to 4.34%, fluctuated between 4.33 and 4.38% over the hours.
Our OATs eased -5pts to 2.861%, Bunds -4pts to 2.36% and UK Gilts remained unchanged at 4.056%.

Investors will also continue to keep a close eye on the impact of rising oil prices, with a barrel of US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) now peaking at its highest level since October.

Buy positions on oil (Brent and WTI at $89.4 and $85.3 respectively) are at a five-month high', comment the teams at DeftHedge, a designer of decision-support software for 4P currency and commodity risk management.

'The cause: uncertainty over Russian supplies, which has notably led to a sharp rise in diesel prices over the last few sessions', point out the platform's analysts.

Gold is following suit (+0.2% to $2,303), reaching new all-time highs above $2,300 an ounce, with buying interest continuing unabated.
The euro continues to rally against the dollar, gaining a further +0.35% to 1.0870.

"Even individual investors, who had previously been positioned on the sell side, are getting in on the act", stresses DeftHedge. Over the past week, investment funds have strengthened their long positions", says the risk manager.

In the news from French companies, Solutions30 (-13.5% under 2E) reported negative net income (group share) of -22.7 million euros for the past year, but a clear turnaround compared with 2022 (-50.1 million), with an adjusted EBITDA margin improving by 190 basis points to 7.1%.

For 2023, Synergie reports a 10.6% drop in net income (group share) to €74.9 million, and a 5.6% decline in EBITDA to €153.2 million, due in particular to the slowdown in certain markets with a greater economic impact (including France).

Gaussin, which is experiencing difficulties, announced on Thursday that it had obtained a safeguard procedure to guarantee the company's future and maintain employment.

Finally, Renault (+50% since January 17) presented on Thursday the new generation of its city 4x4, the 'Captur', a model that is now one of the best-selling vehicles in the urban SUV segment in France.


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