Cac 40: The departure of Nancy Pelosi from Taiwan gave wings to the Paris Stock Exchange

(BFM-Börse) – The Paris Stock Exchange is up close to 1%, boosted by the departure of Nancy Pelosi from the island of Taiwan. Corporate publications are also supporting the trend. In Paris, results from Societe Generale, Axa and Bic were celebrated, while on Wall Street PayPal’s quarterly performance was well received.

Nancy Pelosi has not been in Taiwan and has kept a possible flare-up in tensions between Beijing and Washington at the moment. The departure of the US representative from the island boosted stock market indices including the CAC 40, which closed down 0.97% at 6,472.06 points on Wednesday evening.

On Wall Street, American Square is also relieved by Nancy Pelosi’s whirlwind trip. European equity markets closed out the Dow Jones up 0.9% while the Nasdaq gained 2%, helped by company releases including those from PayPal (+10.5%) which unanimously posted better-than-expected earnings .

According to the monthly Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey, the increase in the American rating is also due to an acceleration in the growth of service sector activity in the United States in July. The statistics are watched all the more closely given that services account for more than two-thirds of American economic activity. The service dynamics in the United States contrast with the situation in the euro zone. Earlier in the day, investors learned of a slowdown in service activity in the old continent due to lower consumer spending coupled with rising prices.

The Fed is determined to hike interest rates

Inflation, which repeatedly fuels discussions on the stock market because its effects on the economy are feared. On this issue, investors are dissecting recent statements by certain members of the Federal Reserve, the content of which advocates aggressive monetary policy if inflation does not abate. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he was determined to raise interest rates to bring inflation back towards the 2% target. For her part, San Francisco Fed Antenna President Mary Daly added that the Fed is “far from finished” in its fight against inflation. In fact, central banks continue to normalize monetary policy to combat rising prices. The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by 0.50 percentage points to 1.75% on Thursday, according to a recent Reuters poll.

Still in the macro chapter, the OPEC+ oil producing countries have just announced an anecdotal opening of their gold black taps. As a result, members of the expanded cartel have agreed to increase production by 100,000 barrels per day for the month of September. This is much less than the additional 648,000 barrels earmarked for July and August. Oil prices soared immediately after the announcement before falling again as crude stocks rose by a surprising 4.5 million barrels compared to forecasts for a 1.5 million drop. . Brent was down 2.3% to $98.21 and WTI was down 1.8% to $92.43.

banks offer

Axa topped the CAC 40 (+5.7%) after reporting better-than-expected half-year net earnings and announcing the launch of a new share buyback program of up to €1 billion. For its part, Societe Generale gained 3.1% after reporting a lower quarterly loss than the market feared.

On the other hand, Veolia lost 2.8%, the group specializing in water and waste treatment published a net profit down 22% to 236 million euros in the first half of the year, mainly due to construction costs, the acquisition of Suez and an impairment of activities in Russia . The annual targets are confirmed.

Renault closes down 1%, weighed down by BMW. The premium automaker lowers its production forecast for the current year.

At Paris SRD it was Bic who performed very well (+4.7%) on Wednesday after a first half that exceeded expectations.

For its part, SMCP gained 6.5% on the back of a quality semi-annual release. The group confirms its annual targets for the current financial year after record sales on June 30th.