The Paris stock exchange ended down by 0.57% on Thursday, driven by the declines of a few heavyweights and a significant increase since the start of the week following the slowdown in American inflation. The benchmark CAC 40 index fell by 41.21 points to close at 7,168.40 points. However, it showed a gain of 1.75% over the week.
The sharp decline of luxury group LVMH (-1.79%) after disappointing results from British luxury group Burberry weighed on the overall performance. TotalEnergies (-2.64%) also fell with a decline in oil prices.
Investors had no major economic data, remaining in the sequence initiated by American inflation on Tuesday. Many market experts predict a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve as American economy slows down.
On Thursday, economic indicators painted a picture of a slowing American economy. The US Labor Department revealed that weekly jobless claims rose more than expected to 231,000, a 12-week high. Industrial production also fell more than expected.
This slowdown aligns with the policy desired by the American Federal Reserve, and after a rebound on Wednesday, bond interest rates for French state bonds fell sharply on Thursday.
All of the luxury sector across Europe was negatively impacted by Burberry’s announcement of an 18% drop in its first-half profit, indicating a “slowdown in global luxury demand” that could prevent it from meeting its annual forecast.
Vallourec announced revised upwards projections for 2023 following a strong operational performance.
Alstom bounced back after a 15% drop on Wednesday due to its quarterly results, while Edenred was found guilty of anti-competitive practices by the Paris Court of Appeal, confirming the Authority for Competition’s sanctions in 2019.
