Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse accused the blow in mid-session Tuesday (-0.07%), cautious in a context of worsening of the health crisis despite the timid hopes on the future of the world after the Covid-19.

The CAC 40 index lost 4.19 points to 5,658.24 points around 12:45 p.m. (11:45 a.m. GMT), the day after a close down 0.78%.

Europe was also moving timidly: the Dax took 0.03% but London lost 0.61% and Milan 0.38%.

Futures contracts on the three major Wall Street indices pointed to an opening up 0.2% to 0.4% the day after a lower close.

Every day in the news its litany of economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, which officially killed 1.9 million people worldwide.

At the start of the week alone, Renault announced sales down 21.3% worldwide in 2020, the oil services group CGG expects sales to drop by 32% over its fiscal year, and abroad, Ford announced the closure of its last three factories in Brazil, leading to nearly 5,000 layoffs.

In the eyes of investors, the situation could continue to worsen, hence their caution.

"The + English variant + continues to spread and could well lead several countries to impose new restrictions, even new confinements," observes Franklin Pichard, CEO of Kiplink Finance.

According to him, "the ambient caution could continue until the presentation Thursday by Joe Biden of the outlines of a new stimulus plan".

The announcement of the basis for this plan had allowed the indices to experience five strong growth sessions last week, some, like the Dax in Frankfurt or Wall Street, even reaching new records.

But after the euphoria came the less positive aspect of such a stimulus: the prospect of the payment of several hundreds of billions of dollars to the companies and the American population raised fears of a rise in inflation on the long term.

"What we are observing is a boomerang effect: the expectation of massive spending by the United States has raised the long-term part of the American bond market, a situation which can be explained by the fear of seeing a rising prices "in the country, reports Sebastien Galy, macro strategist for Nordea Investment.

This inflation could ultimately result in a tightening of the monetary policy of the American Central Bank (Fed), a prospect which does not please investors.

The price of a barrel drives up oil tankers

The sector benefited from the rise in crude prices, which returned to their pre-pandemic levels despite the expected impact of containment on the strength of the economy and therefore demand.

BP took 1.07% to 302.00 pence, Royal Dutch Shell 1.20% to 1,480.00 pence, and Total 1.04% to 37.30.

Automotive sales at half mast

The German manufacturer BMW (-0.06% to 69.34 euros) has reached, as announced, the reduction targets requested by the EU in the CO2 emissions of its cars sold in 2020, explains in a statement the group, which has also seen its sales fall by 8.4% last year to 2.3 million units.

Renault (+ 1.53% to 36.82 euros) for its part saw its sales drop by 21.3% in 2020, where it suffered like the rest of the sector from restrictions linked to the global health crisis.

However, at the end of December, the group posted an order level 14% higher than that of 2019 in Europe and a stock level down by 20%.

© 2021 AFP