The star CAC 40 index fell 8.88 points to 7,315.88 points, its third session of decline in a row.

The day before, it had fallen by 0.20%.

Over the first four sessions of the week, its decline was 0.44%.

The Parisian rating spent the first part of the session in the red, even falling below 7,300 points, before rising after the publication of weekly unemployment benefit claims in the United States.

Some 211,000 people registered to receive unemployment benefits after losing a job between February 27 and March 4, the highest level since the start of the year, and above economists' expectations.

However, the level of employment is a crucial indicator for the American Federal Reserve: the tighter it is, the greater the inflationary pressures, for example via wage increases, are important.

The Fed has been struggling for more than a year to bring inflation back to its target, at the cost of monetary tightening not seen in decades which is hurting equities.

The latest indicator is therefore good news from this point of view, but "we must not draw conclusions" too hastily as it can be subject to one-off events, warns portfolio manager of Mirabaud France.

The monthly employment report for February, published on Friday, will be more instructive.

However, the Parisian rating remains a few dozen points from its record.

“There is room to go up, because the valuations are not excessive,” says Mr. Rozier.

But for this, the scenario currently envisaged by most operators on the equity markets, in particular the absence of recession in the coming months, would have to materialize, he adds.

The Vivendi group, which fell into the red in 2022, with a net loss of more than one billion euros mainly due to the deconsolidation of the operator Telecom Italia, lost 0.73% to 9.78 euros.

The worst falls in the broader SBF 120 index were for companies that published their results, notably JCDecaux (-16.90% to 18.93 euros), which indicated that it would not propose any dividend payment in 2023 and Maisons du Monde (-13.68% to 9.75 euros), whose profit was halved.

The action of the web hosting group and IT infrastructure provider OVHCloud fell 12.54% to 12.25 euros after the KKR and TowerBrook funds sold 5 million shares.

The Dassault Aviation title soared 12.21% to 179.20 euros.

The aircraft manufacturer recorded a record volume of 20.9 billion euros in orders in 2022, up 74%, driven by the success of the Rafale combat aircraft for export and the dynamism of aviation. 'business.

© 2023 AFP