The star CAC 40 index yielded 0.54%, or 35.54 points, to 6,537.93 points, around 9:45 a.m. (08:45 GMT).

Thursday, the Parisian place jumped 0.97%, following in the footsteps of Wall Street.

The penultimate US economic statistics of the year delighted investors on Thursday: weekly jobless claims in the United States rose more than expected last week, a sign for the markets of the efficiency of the increases in the key rates of the American central bank (Fed).

Only the Chicago area PMI activity index numbers on Friday are likely to liven up the final session of 2022, which will most likely be held in anemic trading volumes.

At this stage, the star Parisian CAC 40 index is down more than 8% compared to December 31, 2021, the year it ended with a jump of 28.85%.

Nothing to be ashamed of, because the Paris Stock Exchange has withstood the headwinds of 2022 better than the American S&P500 index or other European places, such as Frankfurt.

Looking to 2023, the big concern for investors is whether the economy will withstand central bank interest rate hikes to bring inflation down to the correct level.

“Recession, inflation and stagflation are likely to dominate the headlines next year,” warns Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.

She notes, like many analysts, that the year was "awful" for almost all assets due to the closing of the free money taps of the central banks.

“Everything has been terrible this year, except for energy and the dollar,” she sums up.

For Ipek Ozkardeskaya, this weighed down economic context, and a drag on the markets, could "worsen during the first quarters of next year", because "central banks still have a lot of cheap liquidity waiting to be withdrawn " steps.

Many analysts believe that an economic recession, and therefore a decline in profits, is inevitable in 2023, which could cause stock indices to continue their decline.

Green light for AB Science

The French biotech AB Science announced Thursday evening that it had received approval from the American health authority (the FDA) to launch the phase 3 confirmation study of its flagship molecule, masitinib, for the treatment of progressive forms of multiple sclerosis.

Its action rose 10.95% to 7.45 euros.

Luxury and tech in small form

Luxury and technology stocks were down, negatively impacted by rising bond yields.

Hermès fell 1.41% to 1,464 euros, LVMH lost 0.73% to 691.40 euros and Kering 0.55% to 479.95 euros.

On the tech side, Worldline dropped 0.89% to 36.62 euros, Atos 1.46% to 9.04 euros and STMicroelectronics 0.64% to 33.30 euros.

© 2022 AFP