The Paris Bourse is set to open moderately higher on Thursday, with investors cautious about taking too many risks ahead of the release of eurozone PMI figures, the only event of the day on what promises to be a quiet day due to the close of Wall Street.

At around 8:15 a.m., the CAC 40 future contract for December delivery was down 7.5 points at 7,278.00, a harbinger of an early session without much change, in line with the trend of the last few days.

Traders are likely to be reluctant to take the initiative as US markets remain closed throughout the day in observance of Thanksgiving.

The stock market could also be affected by fears of instability in the eurozone in the wake of the victory of Geert Wilder's populist, anti-EU PVV party in yesterday's parliamentary elections in the Netherlands.

The publication of the first results of the monthly purchasing managers' surveys (PMI) on private sector activity in the eurozone economies will be the main highlight of the session.

After falling sharply in the spring and summer, the PMIs seemed to show some signs of stabilization in the autumn, but their current level is unmistakably associated with a contraction in activity.

'A PMI falling just below 50 points does not necessarily mean a relapse into recession, but it is a worrying signal', however, tempered analysts at Oddo BHF.

Last year, after the surge in energy prices, the eurozone's composite PMI fell to 47.3, raising fears of a contraction of
activity", they point out.

"Six months later, the index had rebounded to 54.1 and real GDP was content to stagnate", add the private bank's economists.

In the absence of Wall Street, good news could help European equities make up for their underperformance against US markets since the start of the year, with a discount that now stands at a record 35%.

"The valuation of cyclical companies in Europe now incorporates a severe recession scenario", argue Oddo's teams.

The day will also be marked by the publication of the minutes of the ECB's last meeting, which ended in a 'standstill' last month after ten rate hikes in a row.

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index was up 0.3% by the end of the session on Thursday, bringing its increase over the past month to almost 8%, thanks in part to Wall Street's strong performance on Wednesday.

The New York Stock Exchange finished in the green yesterday, buoyed by the technology sector in a market that had to digest the solid results published by Nvidia.

On the currency markets, the dollar is regaining a little health after having fallen sharply in recent weeks in reaction to the Fed's more cautious approach.

The euro is still nibbling away at 0.2% against the greenback, at $1.0910, but is still down for the week as a whole.

On the bond market, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries is stuck at around 4.41% in anticipation of the long Thanksgiving holiday. This rate had exceeded 5% last month.

The yield on the German Bund with the same maturity, which has fallen by 21 points over the past month, stands at 2.56%.

On the oil market, crude prices continue to show signs of heaviness following the announcement of a new rise in US reserves last week, but above all due to the postponement of the Opep+ meeting, which was scheduled for this weekend in Vienna.

Brent crude fell by 1.2% to $81, while US light crude (WTI) lost just over 1% to $76.3.

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