60965 points reflecting the reluctance of investors on the week

A second round of heating will be necessary for investors to have a better idea of the physiognomy of the results of the companies. Opened last Monday by the aluminium producer Alcoa, it is revealed that the first week of this season of publication has left a mixed aftertaste. Although higher than the expectations, the figures announced Friday by the Bank JP Morgan and Intel, the manufacturer of microprocessors, have little excited the market.

Already douchés by the warning issued Wednesday by Société Générale, the operators have continued to benefit catches appears them to be all the more justified that they approached this period hinge on strong expectations.

On the eve of a weekend extended to the United States-l' America celebrates Martin Luther King Day Monday, they preferred to play prudence. At the end of a session NET down Friday, the Dow Jones index displays a slight decline of 0.08, to 10.609,65 points, reflecting the reluctance of investors on the week. It is of course reflected in Europe, where it is view amplified by the return of the fears for the banking sector before the new difficulties admitted by Société Générale.

It is as if the markets went a little too quickly at the beginning of year without real justification and that they will now seek reasons to slightly lift the foot. Companies which have already unveiled their performance are still few. Declare now that the season was disappointing therefore seems premature. It will go quite different this week in which some 65 companies of the S & P 500 index must in turn publish their results for the fourth quarter.

Gradual return of growth

In a few days, operators should have a clearer vision of the way in which companies emerge from the recession. They can include check if, as they hope, the drastic adjustments to their capacity they proceeded today put them in a position more favourable than in the last cycle and allow them to consider the fiscal year 2010 more calmly.

What is certain is that the return of growth will be only gradual. Several less favourable than expected statistics recently - released including retail sales and confidence of consumers in the US indices - instilled doubts about the strength of the recovery.

The euphoria is not last and it seems normal that after the spectacular lift clues attended investors sometimes wondering there is a certain return to prudence. "Today, explain the managers of city management, the majority of investors feared the consumer debt transfer to the States and the weight that this would be for future global growth." Before a new virtuous, the market wants to be certain that economic actors will be able to opt out of public aid.

So far, the cautious approach adopted by operators since last week is not yet a real signal of disaffection, prelude to a reversal of the trend. The appetite for risk returned gradually through the stock market recovery, is still there. The fears of default on sovereign debt of Dubai and the Greece appear again as the symptoms. Above all, the Observatory of European savings (OEE) notes that the behaviour of investors tends to normalise. Households are turning to long-term investments, such as life insurance, pension funds and banking products.

Above all, investors sell less or resume purchase of UCITS for long-term. The Spanish, the British and the French have even slightly strengthened their portfolio of shares by net purchases on the secondary market, noted Didier Davydoff and Cécile Brunet, who established the balance sheet of the OEE. A movement while still tenuous, but should contribute to the consolidation of the stock market recovery.