The Paris Bourse ended the session with a gain of 0.88%, at 7348 points, driven in particular by the performance of Stellantis (+2.8%), STMicro (+2.4%) and Eurofins Scientific (+2.4%).

The Paris index thus gained more than 2.2% over the week and almost +13.5% since the start of the year, approaching its all-time high of 7387 points, set during the session on February 16.

It's worth noting that a certain optimism has been the order of the day since last night, when Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic indicated that "a gradual mindset" should be "the appropriate course of action for the central bank", before adding that "we will stick with a quarter-point rate hike for the March 22 meeting", reports Wells Fargo.

While uncertainty remains as to the future of central bank monetary policy, Raphael.Bostic's stance at least shows that the debate within the Fed is still open.

Bond yields eased a little on Friday, following new record highs for French OATs and German Bunds the previous day.
Our OATs eased -2pts to 3.22%, Bunds -2pts to 2.735%, Italian BTPs -6pts to 4.57%.

Yet the day's figures demonstrate the robustness of our economy: the S&P Global composite PMI for overall activity in France returned to the expansion zone, rising from 49.1 in January to 51.7 in February, after three consecutive months of contraction.

However, this rebound in activity rested entirely on the strong performance of the services sector, with manufacturing production recording its biggest decline since October 2022. This performance, at least temporarily, removes the risk of recession on the Old Continent.

Still on the French statistics front, in January, production fell over one month in both manufacturing industry (1.8% after +0.2%) and industry as a whole (1.9% after +1.5%), according to data adjusted for seasonal variations and the number of working days (CVS-CJO).

Insee, which is publishing these figures, highlights a clear downturn in transport equipment (6.7% after +8%), particularly in other transport equipment (9.5%, after +13.5%), and more moderately in automobiles (2.6%, after +0.9%).

In the eurozone, the S&P Global PMI composite index of overall activity rose from 50.3 in January to 52.0 in February, signalling continued growth in eurozone activity, with the pace of expansion also the strongest since June 2022.

In the US, the private sector managed to stabilize in February (after seven months of contraction), according to S&P Global, whose composite PMI index stood at 50.1 in February, compared with a flash estimate of 50.2 and 46.8 for the previous month.

S&P Global points out in particular that private-sector job creation reached its highest pace since September 2022.

Finally, the ISM 'services' index published at 4pm came in at 55.1, compared with 54.3 expected: another 'more robust than expected' figure.
However, there were some signs of weakness in the ISM's sub-indices.

The services activity and production component fell to 56.3 in February from 60.4 the previous month, while the shipments component deteriorated to 47.6 from 50.
The employment component rose to 54 from 50 in January, as did the new contracts component, which came in at 62.6 compared with 60.4 the previous month...

In French company news, geosciences group CGG (+9.9%) reports net income of $43 million for 2022, compared with a net loss of $180 million in 2021, as well as adjusted operating income from activities up 88% to $147 million, representing a margin of 16%.

Bonduelle (+5.7%) reported a 35.3% increase in net income from continuing operations to 14.4 million euros for the first half of FY 2022-23, and a 94 basis point improvement in recurring operating margin to 3.5%.

Ipsen (-0.9%) announced the completion of its acquisition of Albireo Pharma, a leading innovator in the field of bile acid modulators for the treatment of rare liver diseases, an acquisition announced in January.

Finally, on Friday, Alstom announced the inauguration of its new industrial site at Valmadrera, on Lake Como, which it intends to use to manufacture power supply equipment for its trains, metros and streetcars.


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