The Paris Bourse is set to start trading at almost equilibrium on Tuesday morning, as cyclicals turn the tide at the expense of more defensive stocks.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the CAC 40 index - for delivery at the end of March - was down 13 points at 7292.5, suggesting a note of weakness at the opening.

The Paris market had ended Monday's session with a gain of 1.5%, at 7295 points, a performance that enabled it to erase a large part of Friday's heavy decline (-1.8%).

Sectors most dependent on economic cycles returned to favor yesterday, at the expense of healthcare, utilities and consumer staples.

This type of rotation is in line with what we expect to see when markets anticipate a pause in monetary tightening by major central banks", say analysts at Danske Bank.

"This is also in line with our strategy, as we believe that central bank tightening is largely behind us now", adds the Danish bank.

The New York Stock Exchange also got off to a modest start to the week, buoyed by the sectors most sensitive to the economy.

Non-essential consumer goods, manufacturing and technology stocks underpinned the Dow and Nasdaq, which rallied by 0.2% and 0.6% respectively at the final bell.

The question now for investors is whether the pause of the past few weeks was only temporary, or whether it is likely to be prolonged.

While the previous day's rally suggests a degree of renewed optimism about growth, the market's recent procrastination reflects a certain fatigue after the sharp rise at the start of the year.

In recent weeks, expectations of the Fed's final rate have risen steadily, and now stand at around 5.4%, compared with just 5% last month.

Against this backdrop, investors will be keeping a close eye on today's statistics, starting with French consumer price figures, which could well show an acceleration in inflation in February.

While energy inflation seems to have passed its peak, this is not the case for the other components of the statistics.

The US consumer confidence index, published by the Conference Board, is expected to rise this afternoon, illustrating the resilience of household morale in the US.

The next few sessions will therefore be decisive: the CAC can either continue its recovery above 7300 points, or resume its consolidation towards 7150 points.

According to chartists, such a configuration would inevitably drive the leading index towards its former supports at 7105, then 7050 points.

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