The Paris Bourse is expected to open lower on Wednesday, in the wake of Wall Street's sharp decline the previous day and renewed tensions on the bond market.

At around 8.15am, the future contract on the CAC 40 index - March delivery - dropped 24 points to 7296.5, heralding a further start to the session in negative territory.

The Paris market ended Tuesday's session down 0.4%, at 7305 points, a limited loss compared to the New York Stock Exchange, which yesterday suffered its heaviest setback of 2023, with all indices down by more than 2%.

Nevertheless, this is the CAC's third straight decline.

Like other world markets, the Paris index is suffering from the spectacular rise in bond yields, which is causing the dollar to soar.

On the Treasuries market, the ten-year yield exceeded the 2.95% threshold last night, setting a new high since last November.

Bond markets had already suffered last week due to an upward revision of expectations regarding the US Federal Reserve's final rates.

Whereas at the end of January, the final rate was estimated at 4.9% in June, the markets are now expecting the Fed to set a final rate of over 5.3% in July.

This dynamic has resulted in an accentuated rebound for the dollar, which has held up well despite the heavy fall in US indices, regaining ground against the euro, yen and pound sterling.

While these tensions are primarily affecting the United States, they are not sparing Eurozone bond yields, which are following in the footsteps of Treasuries.

These fears are thus leading to a widespread resumption of pressure on rates, both short and long, with French 10-year OATs jumping to 3% and German Bunds stretching to 2.52%.

Concerns about interest rates are likely to dominate trading again on Wednesday, as we await the publication of a number of key economic indicators.

Expected later this morning, the Ifo business climate index is set to rebound in February, thanks to the fall in gas prices, which are now at 17-month lows.

Against this backdrop, investors will also be paying close attention to Germany's consumer price index (CPI), which is expected to rise slightly in January compared with the previous month.

The 'minutes' of the Fed's latest meeting - to be published in the evening - are less interesting than usual, as all the figures released since that meeting have been better than expected.

All these statistics have fuelled doubts as to the speed of disinflation, leading several Fed members to argue for a continuation of the institution's restrictive monetary policy.

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