No ‘Dry January’ in the stock market, TotalEnergies moves to the top of Cac 40 as oil prices rise

The Paris Stock Exchange remains bullish this Tuesday, marking the first session of 2024. The Cac 40 is up 0.5% at 7,580.1 around 10:20 a.m., helped by heavyweight TotalEnergies, which is up 1.94%. , while the oil market continues to live to the rhythm of tensions in the Red Sea.

Brent and U.S. WTI rose more than 1.5% to $78.4 and $72.8, respectively, after the U.S. military bombed three Houthi ships on Sunday, killing ten rebels who were trying to get Washington to intercept a container ship of the Danish carrier Maersk. Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group from Yemen, have stepped up attacks in the Red Sea, a route for 12% of world trade, against ships believed to be linked to them. Jewish state.

Unlike TotalEnergies, Maurel & Prom does not benefit from price increases. The group lost 6% after Gabon’s transition president Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema announced during his wishes on December 31 that the state would buy the oil company Assala, whose French company completed the acquisition, in a pre-emptive right. With this purchase for 730 million euros from the Carlyle fund, Maurel & Prom was to become the leading operator in Gabon.

In China, the fall in the manufacturing PMI index is deepening

If the Paris stock market started the year on the right foot, China did not. The CSI 300 index of the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges lost 1.3%. Official data released at the weekend showed industrial activity fell at the sharpest pace in six months, again illustrating the country’s weak recovery. In his televised New Year’s address, President Xi Jinping pledged to boost economic dynamism and job creation, admitting that some “ businesses have fallen on hard times ” and ” people struggled to find work and meet their basic needs “. The Chinese economy faces another economically difficult year, emphasized Mark Matthews, head of research at Julius Baer. ” President Xihas made it very clear that, from an economic point of view, her priority is to reduce the size of the real estate sector and its importance in the economy », commented an expert for Bloomberg, referring to the “painful” process.

As for the Eurozone, final PMI survey results for the manufacturing sector show activity picked up slightly, from 44.2 in November to 44.4 in December. ” The manufacturing sector continues to wallow in sharp decline. The survey points to a significant decline in activity and new orders, with the decline in sales slowing only slightly from November’s sustained pace. Weak demand reflects the current economic situation (…) Survey data paint a grim picture of industrial conditions in the eurozone’s four biggest economies. Spain recorded the smallest decrease, followed by Italy and Germany. France carried a red lantern at the end of the year, its manufacturing sector experienced the sharpest decline ”, commented Cyrus de la Rubia, Chief Economist of the Hamburg Commercial Bank.