The CAC has posted strong gains in the Thursday session. Currently, the CAC is at 5,336.50, up 0.66% since the Wednesday close. On the release front, Final CPI gained 1.4% and Core Final CPI gained 0.9%, as both readings matched the forecasts. On Friday, ECB President Mario Draghi and German Buba President Jens Weidmann speaks at Frankfurt European Banking Congress.
It’s been a rough November for the CAC, but there was some good news on Thursday, with the index moving higher. Car makers are leading the way, as Peugeot and Renault are up 1.38% and 1.05%, respectively. Cyclical stocks have been moving higher in the French and German stock markets on Thursday, after under-performing in recent weeks. There was a bright spot on Wednesday from Airbus Group, which announced that it had signed an order to sell 430 aircraft to Indigo Partners, for a price of $49.5 billion. This marks the company’s biggest deal in its history, and Airbus shares are up 2.53% on the day.
Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi attended at ECB event this week, with the focus on effective communication with the markets. Central bankers strive to remain on the sidelines and not trigger market volatility, but this can be a difficult task at times. Bank policymakers make public statements on an almost daily basis, and differences in opinion on future monetary policy or quantitative easing are bound to come up and can lead to market movement. Yellen was candid that the Fed is affected by this problem, but didn’t offer solution. She acknowledged that the FOMC committee of 19 members meant that members did not always present a unified message. Yellen admitted that this problem would not be solved anytime soon, saying it was "a work in progress". To be fair, this is also an issue for the ECB, as the markets have on occasion reacted to comments from individual ECB policymakers concerning future policy.
