CAC-40 Mildly Positive As Earnings Soften Economic And Geopolitical Pain Points

The CAC-40 is trading in mildly positive territory as earnings updates bolstered sentiment amidst a series of macro-economic and geopolitical concerns haunting investor appetite. The fall in consumer confidence, Russia’s blockage of gas to Poland and Bulgaria, the threat to global growth from the lockdowns in China and the central banks’ onslaught against red-hot inflation had been weighing down the investor sentiment for the leading benchmark.

Data released earlier showed the consumer confidence dropping to 88 points in April versus 90 points in March and analyst expectation of 92 points. The war in Europe as well as the spike in inflation appeared to impact households’ purchases, standard of living, level of savings and other barometers of consumer confidence to drag it to the lowest level since December 2018.

The CAC-40 is currently trading at 6429.65, up 0.24 percent from Tuesday’s close. The day’s trading has been between 6,338.61 and 6474.96.

Software maker Dassault Systemes is the top gainer with a 3.6 percent rally, after it raised its annual profit forecast and reported first-quarter earnings that beat estimates.

Steel giant ArcelorMittal follows with a 3.4 percent increase.

Software business Worldline, engaged in the payments industry, rallied 3.1 percent, following release of first quarterly results that showed organic growth of 11.6 percent.

Michelin is trading 2.8 percent higher, whereas Stellantis is trading 1.8 percent higher.

Utilities business Engie dropped 2.1 percent. Schneider Electric slumped 1.7 percent after it said it would be selling its operations in Russia and Belarus to the local management. Veolia Environnement, and Carrefour have both fallen more than 1 percent in Wednesday’s trade.

Total Energies is the most active scrip with a turnover of 109.2 million. The scrip has edged down 0.12 percent.

The EURUSD pair hovered around a 5-year low of 1.0589, around 0.44 percent lower than the closing level of 1.0636 at Tuesday amidst a resurgent Dollar. The Dollar Index meanwhile added 0.38 percent to trade at 102.63, after rising to a fresh 2-year high of 102.78, from 102.3 on Tuesday.

The ten-year bond yield has increased by 2.77 percent to 1.338 versus 1.302 percent on Tuesday.