The Paris Stock Exchange remained close to equilibrium at mid-Monday (+ 0.14%), cautious in the face of the pandemic and government responses.
At 12.52 pm, the CAC 40 index advanced 6.69 points to 4,916.33 points. On Friday, it finished down 0.18%, a decline of 1.40% over the week.
The Parisian rating evolved a good part of the morning slightly in red in line with the opening, before going up.
Wall Street was also preparing to open without much trend. The futures contract on the flagship Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17%, while the S&P 500 expanded index remained in balance. The high-tech Nasdaq was down 0.36%.
“The exchanges were hectic this morning,” said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets. “The health situation in the United States has worried investors because they fear that the reopening of European economies will be interrupted if the infection rate increases.”
Sunday, the pandemic crossed two symbolic caps: that of half a million dead and ten million cases of infection, according to a count made by AFP. This assessment also only reflects a fraction of the actual number of contaminations, which are not always detected.
The United States, the country most affected in terms of number of deaths and cases, is faced with the spread of contagion in 30 of the 50 states. Texas or Florida have even put in place restrictive measures.
“Some fear that the persistence of the Covid-19 will no longer seriously damage consumer confidence, a pillar of the American economy. Suddenly, the markets fear that this shift will slow down the momentum despite indicators which, up to now are above expectations, “said Franklin Pichard, director of Kiplink Finance.
“The situation in the United States is much worse than in Europe”, nuances David Madden, even if the virus is far from having disappeared, with for example the authorities of the city of Leicester in the center of England who say consider local containment measures.
Support from central banks and governments is still active: all of the interventions announced to respond to the crisis are equivalent to 20% of world GDP, notes Wilfrid Galand, chief strategist at Montpensier finance.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet on Monday to discuss ways to reach a rapid agreement on the European recovery plan.
Uncertainty could however return on the geopolitical level, between China and the United States. Beijing on Monday announced visa restrictions against “misbehaving” Americans after criticizing a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, a retaliation for a similar move by Washington on Friday.
– Danone biggest drop –
On the value front, the biggest increase in the CAC is for Renault, which took 2.81% to 21.56 euros. He was accompanied by Faurecia (+ 1.71% to 34 euros) and to a lesser extent Peugeot (0.83% to 13.97 euros).
Total lost 0.42% to 34.32 euros, ballasted by crude oil prices. Its competitor BP sold its petrochemical activities to Ineos for 5 billion dollars, in order to strengthen its finances weighed down by the health crisis.
Danone recorded the largest drop in the CAC 40 (-2.65% to 61.76 euros), after its general meeting on Friday. The group warned that its activity had slowed down in the second quarter of 2020 due to the health crisis, with in particular sales of bottled water “down by around 30%”.
Euronext CAC40
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