Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse lost 0.93% in mid-session Thursday, caught in a global decline linked to the caution of the American central bank (Fed) about economic uncertainties in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Around 1:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. GMT), the Paris index lost 46.31 points to 4,930.92 points.

Latest Fed report "emphasizes that recovery will not be a pink road," says Neil Wilson, market analyst for Markets.com

In a document published on Wednesday, the participants in the last meeting of the American institution underlined in particular that "the uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook (remains) very high, the trajectory of the economy depending heavily on that of the virus and the public sector's response to this ", ie the adoption of a new aid plan.

Problem: it is slow to emerge due to strong dissensions between elected Democrats and Republicans in Congress, a few months before a crucial US presidential election.

The market reaction "looks rather surprising considering that the Fed's observations on the US economy are rather obvious in view of recent events," said Michael Hewson, market analyst for CMC Markets UK.

Reason why some rather invoked profit taking, in particular on Wall Street, having closed lower Wednesday after having reached historic highs on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices.

The Asian markets for their part ended lower Thursday and European indices were losing ground as in Paris at mid-session.

In addition to the Fed, the health backdrop does not encourage the greatest optimism either: France has recorded in the last 24 hours more than 3,700 new cases of Covid-19, an unprecedented increase since May, and Germany has exceeded Thursday its peak of contamination in 24 hours since April.

The pandemic has killed more than 780,000 people worldwide since the end of December and more than 22 million cases of infection have been officially diagnosed, according to a report established Wednesday by AFP from official sources.

Among the values ​​of the day, the petroleum engineering group TechnipFMC (-1.41% to 6.72 euros) announced Thursday that it had won a "large contract" in consortium with the Brazilian group Petrobras for the construction of facilities on a pre-salt field located off Brazil.

Accor advanced 0.30% to 23.23 euros. According to information from Figaro, the hotel group has studied a merger project with its British competitor Intercontinental Hotels Group, without however going further in the discussion. Asked by AFP, the two groups made no comment.

Total lost 0.74% to 32.84 euros the day after the maintenance of the agreement to decrease production by the oil-exporting countries (Opep +) during a monthly meeting.

© 2020 AFP