Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange saw its gains from the previous day slightly erode (-0.18%) Wednesday at midday, focused on deconfinement measures and a new burst of statistics leaving little doubt about the extent of damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

At 12.51 (10.51 GMT), the CAC 40 index fell by 8.01 points to 4,475.12 points, in a trading volume of 664 million euros. The day before, it had finished on a clear rebound of 2.40%.

The Parisian rating had opened stable, before going into the red.

For its part, Wall Street was about to start rising. The futures contract on the Dow Jones Industrial Average index gained 0.89%, the broad S&P 500 index 0.86% and that of the Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, 0.81%.

"European stock markets are evolving in dispersed order (this Wednesday), in the aftermath of a good performance" while "the relaxation of containment measures continues to be in the foreground in the minds of investors," said in a notes David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Relatively spared by the pandemic, Germany is preparing to accelerate its deconfinement on Wednesday, a normalization forcefully demanded for its country by the American president Donald Trump in order to avoid an economic catastrophe.

But even if "for the moment, the markets seem to include in their prices the prospect that economic activity can improve", the fact remains that "we still do not know the extent of the economic damage which has already been caused" , for his part, Michael Hewson, at CMC Markets UK.

The European Commission on Wednesday predicted a "historic" recession in the EU this year due to the pandemic, which it said would result in a record fall in GDP of 7.7% in the euro zone, then a rebound of 6.3 % in 2021. In France, gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 8.2% in 2020.

Italy, for its part, is to enter into 2020 a "deep recession" with a GDP down 9.5% and debt at its highest (158.9% of GDP), an announcement which did not, however, result notable reaction in the government bond market, where the Italian ten-year borrowing rate varied little.

In terms of indicators, orders placed with the German manufacturing industry fell 15.6% on a month in March due to the coronavirus, the biggest drop in recent history while the activity of the service sector in France experienced an "unprecedented" fall in April, due to the confinement and cessation of many activities.

But it is above all job creation in the private sector in April (ADP survey) in the United States that is expected, before the weekly report on oil stocks.

"The consensus is awaiting ... 21 million job losses in April in the American private sector," notes Tangi Le Liboux, a strategist for broker Aurel BGC.

- Axa has the wind in its sails -

On the securities front, Axa gained 2.55% to 16.24 euros, with a solid balance sheet for the first quarter, even if it expects the crisis to have a "significant impact" on its performance for the rest of the year.

Crédit Agricole grew by 1.93% to 7.30 euros, the group ensuring it can absorb the shock of the health crisis despite the tripling of its provisions which began its net profit in the first quarter.

Solvay rose 3.18% to 72.74 euros. The Belgian chemical group anticipates a second quarter even more difficult than the first, where its net profit fell by 18% because of the consequences of the pandemic. However, its operating profit (EBITDA) remained almost stable on an underlying basis.

Aperam fell 2.50% to 22.97 euros despite a net profit of 29 million euros, up 16% in a first quarter almost "normal". The group expects a greater negative impact from the health crisis in the following quarter.

ALD for its part lost 2.30% to 8.94 euros, weighted by a net profit down 3.7% to 128.9 million euros in the first quarter.

© 2020 AFP