Despite the crisis, the stock market has continued to seduce the French in 2022

1.508 million individuals carried out at least one equity transaction in 2022. The report published by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) shows a slight decrease compared to the previous year, which had been a record since the gendarme started his scorecard quarterly. However, the economic context was very different compared to 2021 and the performances obtained by the financial markets were less convincing.

In 2021, 1.6 million people placed at least one order to buy or sell shares. That year was particularly prosperous for investors as the CAC40 gained 29% over the period.

A delicate macroeconomic context

2022 will have been more complicated with the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the resurgence of inflation. The 5.5% drop recorded by the MFA, compared to a record year 2021, therefore remains very modest. The CAC40 has lost 9.5% over the past year, posting its worst performance since 2018.

The second half of the year was the weakest in a long time: there were just 42.2 million transactions in European equities by French private individuals. If this figure represents a drop of 24% compared to 2021, “shares remain, by far, the financial instruments most traded by individuals” underlines the MFA in its press release.

“In the medium to long term, investing in shares remains the most attractive investment for accumulating savings and financing one’s lifelong projects,” MFA President Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani said in the same press release. Since its launch in 1987, the CAC40 index, taking into account reinvested dividends (CAC40 GR), has generated an average performance of 8.7% per year.

In his report, the financial market watchman makes no mention of cryptocurrencies, a new asset class that is enjoying great enthusiasm among the younger generations. A study published a year ago claimed that 8% of the French owned these digital assets. Facing repeated scandals, the cryptocurrencies had one of the worst years since their inception. Bitcoin, the flagship currency of the ecosystem, has lost 60% of its value in the last year.