(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris Stock Exchange was stable on Friday morning before the employment figures expected this afternoon in the United States, which again proved to be ‘explosive’. The CAC40 index remains close to 6356 points.
The market could remain relatively low pending the release of the US labor market report in April, scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Economists anticipate around a million non-farm job creations last month, with an unemployment rate expected to have declined from 6% to 5.8%.
The reaction of the markets to the employment figures will prove to be decisive in maintaining the upward momentum currently at work, and which has enabled the ACC to gain nearly 15% since January 1.
“The financial markets are today at a level where a lot of good news is now integrated and where unpleasant surprises are sanctioned”, warns Emmanuel Auboyneau, associate manager of Amplegest.
“This translates to a more hesitant market which could blow in the short term”, warns the professional, who points out that investors believe that valuations are already high.
As a result, Amplegest says today it is adopting a ‘a little more cautious’ bias, while remaining aware that equities clearly offer the most attractive compensation prospects to date.
The sparkling shape of the US markets does nothing to deny this.
The Dow Jones set new records on Wall Street last night and the Nasdaq Composite raised the bar dramatically from a 1% decline to a 0.4% gain at the close as buyers rallied position on ‘big files’ like Apple, Microsoft or Amazon.
Here again, some strategists are seeing ‘red flags’ appearing in markets considered to be ‘boiling hot’ and whose feverish access now extends to commodities and cryptocurrencies.
‘Technical indicators, like measures of relative strength, have recently highlighted the’ overbought ‘character of US and European equities,’ Berenberg teams insisted this morning.
‘In absolute terms, valuations also seem tight,’ warns the German private bank.
In Paris, Crédit Agricole SA publishes net income attributable to the underlying group up 43.1% to 932 million euros for the first quarter of 2021, with in particular a cost of risk falling by 38.2% at -384 million. Underlying gross operating income increased 14% to 1.8 billion euros (+ 19.1% excluding SRF), for underlying revenues up 7.2% to 5.51 billion .
Natixis announced last night that an underlying NBI is up + 25% to 2,049 ME over one year in the 1st quarter of 2021 (+ 19% including H2O AM). All businesses show growth in their income, with BGC up + 38% over one year, Asset and Wealth Management at + 11% over one year, Insurance at + 5% over one year and Payments at + 4% over one year. Net income, group share, adjusted for the impact of IFRIC 21 and excluding exceptional items amounted to 353 ME in the 1st quarter of 2021.
The Casino group recorded sales of 7.1 billion euros for the first quarter, stable on a like-for-like basis compared to the same period a year earlier. At constant exchange rates, 1st quarter EBITDA stood at 204 ME, increasing by 21% (+ 19% in France).
Euronext announces that it has successfully completed a three-tranche senior bond issue representing a total amount of € 1.8 billion, bonds which will be admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Dublin from May 17.
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