Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse ended the week in decline (-1.57%) Friday, the rise in oil prices having failed to revive the optimism of investors, depressed by the rise in unemployment in March in the United States .

The CAC 40 index lost 66.38 points to 4,154.58 points, in a sustained trade volume of 3.3 billion euros. The day before, it had finished up 0.33%.

Over the week, it lost 4.52%, bringing its losses since January 1 to 30.50%.

"The job market in the United States is much more flexible than in Europe and therefore the impact" of the coronavirus epidemic "on job destruction is extremely rapid," stressed to the AFP Didier Saint-Georges, member of the investment committee at Carmignac.

The US economy suffered in March from the first effects of the coronavirus crisis, with an unemployment rate rising to 4.4% and 701,000 jobs destroyed, according to data from the Labor Department, which stresses however that " not precisely quantify the effects of the pandemic on the job market in March ".

"This is something that is spectacular, that is why the markets are falling," continued Mr. Saint-Georges, even if these statistics do not constitute according to him "a huge surprise".

The rise in oil prices, after a historic leap the day before, was not enough to reverse the trend on the Paris market.

The two benchmark crude prices, European Brent and American WTI, advanced strongly following information on the holding of the OPEC meeting.

The previous day, the two barrels had even recorded the largest percentage increase in a session in their history, after tweets from Donald Trump promising a reduction in Russian and Saudi production.

The black gold market is still under pressure from sluggish demand due to restrictions on the transportation of people and goods around the world to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, the supply remains overabundant amid a price war between Ryad and Moscow.

"Unless we believe in a strong rebound in demand for transport and industrial activity from the summer", the imbalance between supply and demand "will remain significant", assured Didier Saint-Georges.

- The neglected banking and insurance sector -

Among other indicators, private sector activity in the euro area dropped to its lowest level in March, according to a second estimate by the PMI composite index.

The German car market experienced its worst fall in nearly 30 years in March due to the coronavirus crisis, with new car registrations down 37.7%.

On the securities front, banking and insurance suffered, like Natixis which dropped 18.72% to 1.85 euros, CNP Assurances (-9.53% to 8.07 euros), Societe Generale (-8.15% to 12.80 euros) or BNP Paribas (-5.03% to 24.74 euros).

The latter announced Thursday evening in turn suspending the payment of a dividend to its shareholders for 2019, complying with the recommendations of European banking supervisors in a context of fight against the epidemic.

Total was also lagging behind, falling 7.58% to 33.53 euros.

Rémy Cointreau fell 2.42% to 98.65 euros, weighed down by sales that fell by more than a quarter in the first quarter due to the Covid-19 epidemic and a warning about a second quarter. even more degraded.

Accor lost 3.43% to 22.21 euros. The French hotel group is forced by the pandemic to close "two-thirds" of its hotels worldwide in the coming weeks and renounces to distribute 280 million euros as planned as a dividend.

© 2020 AFP