The Paris Bourse ended the day down an anecdotal 0.1%, at 7,428 points, penalized by declines in Teleperformance (-2.5%), URW (-1.7%) and STMicro (-1.6%), in reduced volumes with 2.6 billion euros traded since the opening.

On the statistics front, weekly jobless claims in the USA fell by a somewhat unexpected -2,000 to 220,000 in the last week of November, at a time when the retail sector is usually shedding jobs after the Thanksgiving weekend.

On the other hand, "durable" jobless claims fell sharply, by -64,000 to 1.86 million, proof that hiring was strong last month.... an interesting indicator on the eve of the release of the NFP.

As a reminder, the day before, ADP had published a sharp drop in job creation in the private sector in November (to 103,000).

This morning, investors took note of a slight reduction in France's trade deficit in October, thanks to a reduction in the energy bill, which favored a drop in imports.

The trade balance showed a deficit of 8.5 billion euros, an improvement of 200 million euros according to seasonally and working-day adjusted figures released on Thursday by the French customs authorities.

Across the Rhine, following a 1.3% decline in September, German industrial production fell by 0.4% in October compared with the previous month, according to seasonally and calendar adjusted data from Destatis.

Eurostat confirms a 0.1% contraction in GDP in the Eurozone in Q3, and stagnation in the EU as a whole.

On the bond front, T-Bonds are down 4.5 basis points to 4.17%, having shed 87 basis points in 6 weeks. In Europe, yields are also easing slightly, with Bunds at 2.18% and OATs at 2.72%.
With 24 hours to go before the release of monthly US employment figures, investors are taking a more cautious, wait-and-see approach, knowing that a weak figure could prompt the Federal Reserve to cut rates.

Conversely, better-than-expected indicators could complicate the Federal Reserve's task of recalibrating its monetary policy.

Oil is stable, with Brent crude trading at around $74.2 a barrel, while gold is up 0.4% at $2027 an ounce.

In French company news, Saint-Gobain announces that it has reached an agreement with Soprema for the sale of a majority stake in its polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam insulation business operating in the UK under the Celotex brand.

Saint-Gobain has also announced the acquisition of Menkol Industries Private Limited, an operation that 'strengthens its positioning in high value-added specialty building materials in a very dynamic Indian market'.

Societe Generale has signed two agreements with the Vista Group to sell its entire stake in its African subsidiaries Societe Generale Burkina Faso and Banco Societe Generale Mozambique, currently held at 52.6% and 65% respectively.

Sanofi announces that its Phase III Sarclisa trial has met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients not eligible for transplantation.

Finally, Stellantis reports that it has signed an agreement with Ample, a San Francisco-based company that aims to develop a battery replacement system for electric vehicles, enabling any electric vehicle to be fully charged in less than 5 minutes.


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