Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse saw its optimism called into question and yielded 0.02% Thursday at midday against the backdrop of a sharp rise in borrowing rates on both sides of the Atlantic, the ten-year French having returned to positive territory.

After spending the morning in the green, the flagship CAC 40 index yielded 0.97 points to 5,797.01 points around 12.50 p.m., the day after an advance of 0.31%.

"European stock markets have picked up where they left off yesterday, with a positive start to the day," noted Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets UK.

But the strong increase in borrowing rates, slowed down for a while the day before by comments from the President of the Fed, woke up the old inflationary demons of the European stock markets.

The French ten-year rate thus returned to positive territory on Thursday for the first time since June 2020.

The chairman of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, had nevertheless tried to calm things down on Wednesday by repeating that the American central bank intended to maintain its accommodating policy of supporting the economy and by sweeping aside fears of possible galloping inflation. in the coming months.

"The market remains in a period of uncertainty and any crossing of the psychological threshold located at 1.50% over the ten-year US could lead to a new wave of falling stocks," warns Christopher Dembik, associate director at Berenberg.

The ten-year US Treasury bill, a benchmark on the bond market, was trading around 1.44%, a new one-year high when it had fallen to 1.37% the day before.

In terms of indicators, consumer sentiment in France fell slightly again in February, after its sharp decline in January, while German consumer sentiment should improve in March, according to the GFK barometer.

In Italy, the business confidence index rose in February, returning for some sectors to levels before the coronavirus pandemic.

In the afternoon in the United States, the second growth estimate for the fourth quarter will be in the spotlight, as will the durable goods orders for January.

Safran digs its losses

Safran fell 3.72% to 116.50 euros.

The group managed to remain profitable in 2020, posting a net profit of 352 million euros, despite the historic crisis in the aviation sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Axa oversees the CAC 40

The insurer (+ 4.38% to 21.20 euros) unveiled Thursday a net profit down 18% in 2020, to 3.16 billion euros, mainly because of the pandemic and "solidarity measures ".

Like bank stocks, it took advantage of the sharp rise in borrowing rates: Crédit Agricole gained 1.84% to 11.88 euros, BNP Paribas rose 1.67% to 51.01 euros while Société Générale took 1.59% to 20.71 euros.

Nexity in shape

The leading French promoter jumped 5.95% to 40.96 euros after increasing its turnover by 8% in 2020, thanks to an acceleration of its activity in the second half of the year, and having achieved an "exceptional year" in the business plan.

SES weighed down by his video activity

On the other hand, the European satellite operator was weighed down (-5.36% to 6.53 euros) by a net loss and a 4.5% drop in its turnover in 2020, against a background of the continued decline of its video business, its main source of income.

© 2021 AFP