The Paris Bourse ended the session down 3.13%, at 7082 points, with all forty CAC40 stocks in the red, including -5.5% for URW, -5.1% for STMicro and -4.8% for Hermès.

Even gold, the safe-haven par excellence, was in turmoil, dropping 0.75% to $1910 an ounce.

After the publication of the Fed's "minutes", markets finally seem to be taking central bank warnings seriously. Until now, investors had given the impression of ignoring - or even ignoring - the Fed's messages about the need to pursue a restrictive monetary policy until inflation had returned to around its 2% target.

However, according to the document published by the Fed, the US economy could be heading for recession by the end of the year as interest rates rise.

Against this backdrop, the session was punctuated by the publication of a number of US statistics, including the eagerly-awaited ADP survey of private employment, the ISM services index and jobless claims.

And there was a big surprise: private-sector hiring in the USA rose sharply last month (+497,000, i.e. twice as much as expected), providing a further sign of the strength of the American labor market
This is a spectacular recovery from the 278,000 jobs created in May... already considered a 'robust' score.
According to ADP, the leisure, hospitality, transportation, education and healthcare sectors were the most dynamic.

In another surprise, growth in the US service sector rose much more than expected in June, from 50.3 to 53.9, according to the results of the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) monthly survey of purchasing managers (the average consensus forecast was for a more limited rebound, to around 51.3).
The activity sub-index soared to 59.2, after 51.5 the previous month, while the new contracts sub-index rose to 55.5 from 52.9.

Published a little earlier, the competing S&P Global PMI index fell to 54.4 in June, from 54.9 in May, a level which nonetheless points to GDP growth of almost 2% in the second quarter, according to the report's authors.

Another interesting figure: the US trade deficit contracted by -7.3% to -$74.4 billion in May, due to imports shrinking at a faster pace than exports against a backdrop of falling overall trade.

Exports of goods and services fell by 0.8% to $247.1 billion, due in particular to a decline in soybean shipments.
Imports fell by 2.3% to $316.1 billion, due to lower shipments of pharmaceuticals and industrial equipment.

Lastly, US jobless claims rose by 12,000 in the week to June 26, to 248,000, according to the Labor Department, compared with 236,000 the previous week (the latter figure was revised downwards from the 239,000 initially announced).

But beyond today's publications, it is above all the employment figures, expected tomorrow, which will influence the trend.

On the bond market, US government bond yields jumped +10pts to 4.04%, a four-month high.

In Europe, too, bond markets have begun a slide that is pushing yields higher, with Bunds posting +15Pts to 2.630%, our OATs soaring +16Pts to 3.1820%, retracing the worst levels of late 2022.

In French company news, Alstom announces a contract for the complete repair of 37 Twindexx double-decker cars belonging to the Koleje Mazowieckie fleet, in Poland.

Airbus announces that Icelandair, Iceland's leading airline, has placed a firm order for 13 Airbus A321XLRs.

Crédit Agricole announces the signature of a distribution agreement with Coface to support its corporate customers in their international development.

Stellantis N.V. yesterday unveiled the 'STLA Medium' platform, designed for electric vehicles and presented as having 'a range of 700km (435 miles).

Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.