Stock market: stocks to watch in Paris and Europe
18/03/2020 - 15h03
DEHOUI Lionel
Municipal elections suspended, schools closed, restaurants closed, universities closed, borders closed, air flights cancelled, championships suspended and all sporting activities suspended. The list of events is quite long in France. Only one thing matters to economists and investors or shareholders: the evolution of financial market values in the French capital and in the European Union area in general. So here is for you an update on the economic market in Europe. This Wednesday in Europe, the futures contracts announce an opening of the reference indices in clear fall estimated at 4%. The Parisian stock exchange is not spared with astonishing values. In February, for example, the automobile market recorded passenger car sales down 7.2%. This corresponds to 1.067 million units in the European markets according to data published today by ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Image copyright: Rock Cohen - Flickr
Case study of VOLKSWAGEN and RENAULT
As the first quarter of 2020 gradually draws to a close, the automotive market is also gradually changing (but mostly negatively). Thus, the sales of the VOLKSWAGEN group have fallen by 4.4% and 14.3% for RENAULT. In the same automobile market, the giant car manufacturer PSA followed suit and also fell in sales (8.5%).
TOTAL and certain French groups
The automotive market and the oil market cannot be separated, so it is logical that the oil group TOTAL announced on Tuesday that it is preparing to adapt its production to current consumption. The group thus refers to its oil production in its refineries based in France. For its part, the French SODEXO group, which is well known in the services and catering sector, announces that it could suffer damage of up to €2 billion because of Covid-19.
This announced annual turnover is worrying, even though the SODEXO group quickly suspended its economic objectives until the health situation in France improves or stabilizes. Stock market news did not fail to mention the situation between Altran and CapGemini. According to the publication of the Autorité des marchés financiers on Wednesday, the activist fund Elliott will cease its campaign against CapGemini's takeover bid for the French group Altran: its rival.
In Europe, advertisements are multiplying
It seems that the companies have all been working together since yesterday on the European continent when you consider their different statements. Indeed, the fashion brand Zara saw its owner INDITEX announce a 24% drop this Wednesday. According to him, this turnover concerns the month of March even if the group is going to pass a provision of 287 million euros because of the unfortunate consequences of the sanitary crisis caused by Covid-19.
The giant distributor FNAC DARTY as for him, announced since yesterday that it will proceed to the closing of its physical stores in Belgium, Spain, but also in France. It is thus obliged by the multiple containment measures adopted by all the European countries to face the Coronavirus. The ADIDAS group goes further and announces since yesterday the closure of its ADIDAS and REEBOK stores in Europe as well as in North America.