After closing in the red Thursday, almost all the CAC 40 woke up green this Friday at 4022.66 points, excited by the great increase of Wall Street. And closed, its momentum, to 4050.54 points, up 1.81%, exceeding its peak.
The London Stock Exchange and Frankfurt have also recovered well in the wake of Wall Street, buoyed by an upturn in consumer spending … The London FTSE 100 closed up 1.02% to 5770.98 points. The German Dax closed up 1.26% to 6249.70 points.
Thursday evening, the CAC 40 lost 1.20%. After rising almost continuously since February. The index had been weakened by fears of renewed solvency of Greece.
The lifeline of the ECB
Fears eased by the reassuring words of Jean-Claude Trichet, called "lifeline" by the Greek press.The President of the European Central Bank, rejected any risk of contagion to other countries, like Italy. He also assured that a default of Greece was "beyond question". In fact, the President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, promised Friday that the Europeans are "ready to intervene if the Greeks call" and implement a plan of assistance involving the IMF, which Greece seems to want to avoid. French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed: the European Union is ready to activate its plan "at any time.
These incentives have led to a rebound of the euro against the dollar above $ 1.34 this morning, then at 1.3385 dollars this afternoon. Volatility remains a must. After being stretched to 7.5%, the yield on loans to 10 year-old Greek, too, calmed a time, returning this morning to 7.2%.It said Thursday that Athens be able to reduce its deficit by 40% YoY in the first quarter.
The Greek situation remains fragile. The rating agency Fitch has lowered a few minutes from the end of Paris, noted the long-term debt of Greece, from BBB + to BBB-. This could well lead Greece to seek EU aid promised on March 25 …
According to strategists at BNP Paribas, investors await the issuance of treasury bills by Greece on Tuesday to assess the ability of countries to find core funding. Markets await the second season launch of results from U.S. companies, with Alcoa on Monday.
Side values, in Paris, the banks have been resilient, despite their exposure to Greece, to the tune of fifty billion euros.This does not raise "no particular concern, said Friday the governor of the Bank of France Christian Noyer, even if the French regulators monitor" closely "the situation.
The rising price of rubber has instead penalized cars, Michelin (-0.08%) signing the only declines the CAC 40.