Jerome Powell's speech dashed hopes of rate easing in the "foreseeable future", and the markets felt the pinch: the CAC40 (now stable) erased much of its 0.7% gain posted at 3:30 pm (Wall Street opening), to end the session up a modest 0.21%, at 7229 points.

Over the past week, the Paris index gained a timid 0.9%, and has maintained a gain of over 11% since the start of the year.

With less than 2 billion euros traded since the opening, it's hard to describe such a desertion when the entire volume of a Paris session is equivalent to a fifth of the daily trading in Apple shares alone.

In his (short) speech, the head of the FED repeated most of the points made at recent post-FOMC press conferences.

"Inflation has slowed but remains too high, the problem is far from being completely resolved, and it is not certain that the current fall in prices will be sustainable", he explained in substance.

Current underlying growth remains above the historical average, which could foster inflationary ferments: restrictive monetary conditions will therefore have to be maintained over the long term, and the FED stands ready to raise rates if necessary (in other words, a rate cut is out of the question at future FED meetings).

Tighter credit conditions are holding back the 'services' sector, job creation is slowing and the number of hours worked is stagnating, but there are signs of a rebound in housing market activity.

Wall Street therefore seems to consider that the FED is sticking to its hawkish line, giving priority to its inflation-fighting objective.
This closes the door to a "pivot" in the foreseeable future.

The bond market is suffering, with T-Bonds tightening +4pts to 4.272%, the '2-yr' jumping +7pts to 5.085% (worst level for 17 years and 2 months) and the '30-yr' gaining +4pts to 4.34%.
The Dollar is benefiting, gaining 0.3% to 1.0780/E.

In French company news, JCDecaux posted the biggest rise of the SBF 120 on Friday's Paris Bourse (+3.6%), Deutsche Bank having switched to buy on the stock, believing that the current price offers an interesting opportunity.

Olympique Lyonnais (OL Groupe) announced on Thursday evening the transfer of Karl Toko-Ekambi to Saudi Pro League club Abha FC, for a fee of 1.5 million euros, to which may be added 500,000 euros in bonuses.

Nacon presented its eagerly-awaited new game 'Robocop: Rogue City' on Friday, in the hope of boosting sales through to the festive season.


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