Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse remained well oriented (+ 0.61%) Tuesday at mid-session, still benefiting from the hopes of seeing the American economy recover quickly thanks to the rise of vaccination and massive investments in infrastructure .

At 12:45 (10:45 GMT), the flagship CAC 40 index took 36.82 points to 6,052.33 points, after rising to 6,073.75 points, a new high since the end of February 2020. The day before, it had finished up 0.45% after having again crossed the threshold of 6,000 points.

Wall Street was pointing towards a mixed opening.

"The prospect of improving the global economy thanks to vaccines continues to be a factor supporting stocks," said Franklin Pichard, CEO of Kiplink Finance.

"The important thing would be to keep the threshold of 6,000 points on the Paris Bourse for this penultimate day of the first quarter," he adds.

US President Joe Biden on Monday announced an acceleration of the vaccination campaign in the United States, promising that 90% of American adults would be eligible for the vaccine by April 19.

At the same time, the situation continues to deteriorate in France, where the peak in the number of patients in intensive care from the second wave of Covid-19 was crossed on Monday.

The sorting of patients in hospitals was however described as an "absolute red line" Tuesday by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, who assured that the government wanted to avoid such an end.

"We will also have to monitor the bond market", further warns Mr. Pichard, while the yield on the ten-year US Treasury bill rose sharply on Tuesday, to 1.77% - again higher since the end of January 2020 - against 1, 71% the day before.

A tension in yields which was explained in particular by rising inflation expectations against the backdrop of a vast US fiscal stimulus, a new component of which will be launched this week by President Joe Biden in the form of large investments in infrastructure.

As for indicators, the morale of French households rebounded slightly in March, after two months of decline, illustrating in particular a more positive perception of their future financial situation, according to INSEE.

German consumer prices and consumer confidence (Conference Board) in the United States for March are still expected.

Lagardère goes up

The Lagardère share gained 4.47% to 22.88 euros after the ousting on Monday of the CEO of the first French publisher Hachette Livre Arnaud Nourry because of his disagreement with his shareholder Arnaud Lagardère, while Mr. Nourry publicly opposed a sale to the empire of Vincent Bolloré (+ 0.64% to 4.09 euros).

Banks pull the CAC 40

Securities in the banking sector rebounded, against a backdrop of rising lending rates, after suffering the day before in the wake of the massive sale of shares by the American investment fund Archegos Capital Management: Societe Generale gained 2.44% at 22.24 euros, BNP Paribas took 2.25% to 51.81 euros and Crédit Agricole appreciated 1.85% to 12.38 euros.

© 2021 AFP