Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse looked gloomy in mid-session Friday (-0.04%), affected by the French recession and announcements from the president of the American central bank (Fed) the day before which aroused mixed reactions.

Around 1:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. GMT), the Paris index fell 2.18 points to 5.013.94 points after opening up, then falling sharply before reducing its losses.

The trend reversal after the decline took place shortly after the confirmation of the historic drop in French GDP in the second quarter, unprecedented since 1949. After a 5.9% decline in GDP between January and March, France is therefore officially entered recession at the end of the first semester.

It was down 13.8% in the second quarter due to the confinement which led the French to save a lot to the detriment of consumption.

It also occurred after the fall of the Japanese Stock Exchange due to the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for medical reasons.

"The markets are a little worried that the next leader is less open to such an accommodative policy" than was Mr. Abe, known for his massive economic stimulus program, the "Abenomics".

But above all, the market continued to make announcements the day before the boss of the Fed, Jerome Powell, a true metronome of financial markets around the world but whose announcement this time left analysts perplexed and rather disagreed.

According to Thierry Claudé, manager at Kiplink "Powell remains in his line of conduct", announcing that inflation could remain above the target of 2.0% "for a while" before the Fed has to act by raising interest rates.

It "only formalized the ultra accommodating turn taken by the American central bank since the start of the Covid-19 crisis", follows Eric Bourguignon, member of the Management Board of Swiss Life Asset Managers

- 'New approach' -

For others, on the other hand, like Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst for Swissquote Bank, the Fed has proposed "a new political approach" allowing rates to be kept at the bottom as long as the pandemic "wreaks havoc on businesses" .

As a result, markets struggled to have a clear position across Europe, with the Frankfurt and London stock exchanges retreating in mid-session as Madrid and Rome rose, and Wall Street futures trading in scattered order.

The US session will be marked in particular on Friday by the publication of the PCE consumer price index for July, the Fed's preferred indicator for calculating the level of inflation.

Among the values ​​of the day Friday, the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi fell 0.89% to 85.38 euros after formally announcing the launch of its takeover bid for the acquisition of the American biotech Principia Biopharma.

Deutsche Bank downgraded its recommendation for Aéroports de Paris (-0.45% to 104.87 euros) to "keep" against "buy" and revised its price expectation to 90 euros against 130 euros previously.

The banking sector dominated the Parisian rating the day after the Fed's policy change: Crédit Agricole took 2.90% to 8.87 euros, BNP Paribas 3.82% to 37.90 euros, and Société Générale 2.81% to 14.12 euros.

© 2020 AFP