Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange was widening its losses (-3.74%) Monday at midday, in turn passing on the decline in the American markets on Friday, in a context of risk aversion revived by the uncertainties linked to the deconfinement and the rising tensions between the United States and China.

At 12.50 p.m. (10.50 GMT), the CAC 40 index fell by 170.94 points to 4,401.24 points, in a trading volume of 1.3 billion euros. On Thursday, it finished down 2.12%.

The Parisian rating, which reopened after a long weekend, started down sharply and kept this trend during the morning.

For its part, Wall Street, after finishing a sharp decline on Friday, was moving towards an opening in the red. The futures contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 1.10%, the broader S&P 500 index by 0.85% and that of the highly technological Nasdaq by 0.75%.

"The orientation of the American markets Friday, Asia and futures (futures, note) partly explain the decline in European markets this morning," summarizes in a note Franklin Pichard, the managing director of Kiplink Finance.

"The other element of decline is the renewed tension between the United States and China" since "Donald Trump has threatened to use the weapon of customs tariffs in a retaliatory measure against China, which he blamed for the "coronavirus epidemic," he said.

After already threatening China with punitive taxes last week, the United States further toughened its tone on Sunday, saying it had "significant evidence" that the new coronavirus came from a laboratory in Wuhan city, cradle of the pandemic.

For its part Europe, Italy at the head, crossed a new stage on Monday in the deconfinement of its populations even if the greatest caution remains in order.

In the middle of the electoral campaign, US President Donald Trump wanted to blow a wind of optimism concerning a possible end of the pandemic by promising a vaccine before the end of the year.

In terms of indicators, the fall in activity in the French manufacturing sector accelerated in April to reach its all-time low, penalized by the containment measures that put the economy to a halt, said Monday on IHS Markit firm.

The economy of Hong Kong meanwhile recorded in the first quarter a contraction of 8.9% year on year, a record.

- Air distress -

In terms of values, the global giant of shopping centers Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield plummeted 7.91% to 49.47 euros while Total sank 7.49% to 30.39 euros. Oil prices remained under pressure Monday in the face of the resurgence of tensions between Washington and Beijing, detrimental to demand for black gold already weighed down by the economic consequences of the pandemic.

At the other end of the CAC 40, Sanofi rose 2.31% to 88.02 euros.

Airbus won for its part of 6.96% to 53.85 euros. If necessary, the State "will be there for Airbus", assured Sunday the Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin, while the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced Monday the launch this week of the review support plans for the aeronautics sector and the automobile industry in France, two of the sectors most threatened by the crisis.

Air France fell 5.94% to 4.37 euros despite the fact that the European Commission authorized on Monday France to grant support of 7 billion euros to the airline to face the consequences of the coronavirus crisis.

© 2020 AFP