he Paris Bourse is quietly heading for a +1% rise, with the CAC40 back above 8,000 after accelerating sharply higher at 2:30 pm (publication of a mediocre 'NFP').
US indices gained +1.2% (S&P500) to +1.8% (Nasdaq) instead of the +0.6 to +0.8% expected, proving once again that "bad news is good news" when the main issue is once again the prospect of monetary easing by the FED (from September) and not the health of the US economy.
The 'NFP' (employment report) came in 30% below expectations: the US economy generated just 175.000 non-farm jobs in April, according to the Labor Department, well below market expectations, which averaged around 250,000.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 points to 3.9%, where economists were hoping for stability at 3.8%, while the labor force participation rate held steady at 62.7%, and average hourly earnings rose at an annual rate of 3.9%.

In addition, non-agricultural job creations for the previous two months were revised, from 270,000 to 236,000 for February and from 303,000 to 315,000 for March, giving a total revision balance of -22,000 for these two months.
'Job creations were again surprisingly strong in the first quarter, averaging 276.000 creations per month on average", point out the Oddo BHF teams.
The latest NFP also rules out the risk of wage overheating, with hourly wages up by 3.6%.

Growth in the US private sector slowed less than initially estimated in April, according to S&P Global's composite PMI index, which came in at 51.3 on balance, compared with 50.9 in the flash estimate, and after 52.1 for the previous month (traders will note that this is a decline of -0.8 over 1 month, which points in the direction of a slowdown).
The bond markets are applauding these US figures, with the '10-yr' down 5pts to 4.52% (vs. 4.70% at the start of the week), while the '2-yr' is down 7pts to 4.807% (vs. 5.00% last Friday).
In Europe, our OATs and Bunds are also easing by -5pts to 3.005% and 2.5030% respectively.
The emerging slowdown continues to weigh on the oil sector, with a barrel of Brent crude losing a further 0.5% to $83.4, i.e. -6.5% over the week.
Gold, which briefly fell back below $2,300 at around 3:35 p.m. ($2,281), is recovering towards $2,295, giving up 1.5% over the week.
The dollar is significantly weaker, down -0.4%, while the euro is up symmetrically at $1.0765.
Supporting the Paris stock market, Societe Generale announced this morning a 21.7% decline in net income, group share, to 680 million euros for the first quarter, well above the consensus target of 475 million euros.

Crédit Agricole SA reports underlying net income (group share) up 54.7% to 1.93 billion euros for the first quarter of 2024, and underlying gross operating income up sharply by 36.1% to 3.15 billion.

Legrand reports net income (group share) down 16.5% for the first three months of 2024, to 275.9 million euros, with adjusted operating margin before acquisitions down 1.6 points to 20.6% of sales.

Maurel & Prom announces that the Board of Directors will finally submit a dividend of 0.30 euro per share for 2023 to the AGM on May 28, instead of the initial proposal of a stable dividend of 0.23 euro announced alongside its annual results.

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