A very bad day for the Paris Stock Exchange, where the Cac 40 fell nearly 2% to its session low, crossing the 6,600 point mark. In the first exchanges, however, the flagship index had risen slightly. But the trend quickly deteriorated as we moved towards formalizing new sanctions on the part of the European Union against the Russia† The chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced that four banks in the country, including VTB Bank, the country’s second largest institution, will be banned from all transactions with affected countries in Western Europe.
This weighed on the Paris dimension banking compartment, in the same way as a rise in interest rates in France, the 10-year OAT yield of over 1.1% and in particular a wider spread with the German Bund. In question, the reduction of the gap in the polls between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen five days before the first round of the presidential election. According to the latest survey by OpinionWay – Kéa Partners for the echoes and classic radio, the candidate of the Rassemblement National gets 23% of the voting intentions, a gain of 1 point after winning 2 the day before. The outgoing president loses 1 point to 27%. The second round would also be much tighter (51.5 for Emmanuel Macron, against 48.5 for Marine Le Pen, according to a Harris poll).
† Marine Le Pen’s chances of winning the French presidency this month appear to have risen sharply over the past two weeks. analyzes the firm Capital Economics. A victory would certainly be synonymous with deteriorating public finances and would cast doubt on France’s place in Europe, something that would deter investors. Until recently, investors didn’t seem too concerned. And bond markets reflected only a slim chance of victory. But if the polls continue to move in his favor, investors are likely to become a lot more nervous. †
Société Générale falls by more than 6%
Societe Generalethe most sensitive French bank to Russia through its subsidiary Rosbank, fell by 5.5%, Agricultural credit 5% and BNP Paribas 4.5%. Renaultalso present in Russia through its stake in the local manufacturer AvtoVaz, lost 6.1%. vinci lost 4.1% and Eiffage 4.2%. In the event of a victory, Marine Le Pen stated that she: would nationalize the highway companies† Both groups are dealers, in addition to their activities in the construction sector. Veolia environmentsensitive to interest rate hikes, fell 5.2%.
The American places did not help, on the contrary. When opening, Dow Jones and Nasdaq composite were in the red. On the other side of the Atlantic, operators are concerned about Federal Reserve policies and an acceleration of aggressive measures to curb price increases. The governor of the fed Lael Brainard as stated on Tuesday that the central bank must reduce its balance sheet ” fast to lower inflation. The yield on the two-year interest rate is now well above the ten-year rate, by more than 3 basis points on Tuesday.
Finally, the Bedroom 40 fell 1.28%, in trading volume of 4.28 billion euros, driven by a large, rather bullish fix.
Sanctions on the oil- Russian?
As for Russia, the 27 have also decided to impose an embargo on Russian coal imports. According to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union is considering other sanctions, especially on oil imports. The United StatesThey, too, are preparing reprisals, with both holding Moscow responsible for the massacres committed in the city of Boutcha, northwest of Kiev, which has been taken over by Ukrainian troops. The US Treasury Department has suspended payments of the Russian government’s dollar debt to US banks. A decision that was mainly intended to force Moscow to draw on its own reserves in dollars.
The prospect of new retaliation, especially in the aerospace and steel sectors, has therefore also weighed on Airbus (-4.4%) and ArcelorMittal (-3.9%).
