Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse fell 1.06% in mid-session Friday, made nervous by the tensions the day before on the yield of long-term public debts, symptoms of worries about rising inflation and potential monetary tightening.

The flagship CAC 40 index fell 61.11 points to 5,722.78 points around 12.30 p.m. (11.30 a.m. GMT) the day after a 0.24% drop, while the interest rate on French ten-year debt fell. stabilized on Friday morning, around 0.009%.

This rate had crossed the symbolic bar of 0% Thursday for the first time since June 2020.

In the United States, it crossed the 1.50% mark on Thursday, even exceeding the threshold of 1.60%, a level not seen for over a year.

It retreated a little Friday morning, to 1.46%, which did not prevent futures contracts on the main Wall Street indices from posting a slight decline of 0.1% to 0.3%.

The rise in yields since the beginning of February is the symptom of expectations of inflation and the tightening of monetary policy across the Atlantic, against the backdrop of a new economic stimulus plan, a return to growth and a rise. potential for vaccination campaigns.

"We see a return of extremely low rates to levels still low, the result of a powerful economic rebound and solid results of companies in the world", tempers the Berenberg bank in a note.

"The extremely low rates of 2020 made a lot less sense than the much less depressed rates that the markets are heading towards now," she adds.

Inflationary concerns mainly affect the United States.

Regarding France, inflation slowed to 0.4% over one year in February according to INSEE on Friday.

Also among the French indicators, the recession was slightly revised downwards in 2020 to -8.2%.

Banks profit less from interest rates

Sharp increase Thursday in the wake of the rate hike, banks benefited less Friday: Societe Generale lost 1.91% to 20.52 euros, Crédit Agricole 1.57% to 11.62 euros and BNP Paribas 0.67 % to 49.98 euros.

Engie comes out of the coal

The energy giant Engie (-3.05% to 12.22 euros) pledged Friday to phase out coal, which is very polluting and emits carbon, in Europe by 2025 and in the world by 2027. It has also announced a net loss of 1.5 billion for 2020.

Loss for Suez

The environmental services group (+ 0.12% to 17.18 euros), which Veolia wants to acquire despite the reluctance of the first, showed a net loss of 228 million euros in 2020, divided by two compared to in the first semester.

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