The Paris Bourse began the session close to equilibrium on Monday, at the start of a week that will be punctuated by monetary policy meetings at several major central banks, including the Fed. The CAC40 index rose by 0.1% to 8172 points.

However, investors don't seem to be in too much of a hurry to make a commitment ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting, which kicks off tomorrow with two days of debates.

While they are largely expecting a new 'status quo' from the Fed, markets will, as always, be on the lookout for the slightest revealing indication of the timetable for future interest rate cuts.

Many analysts believe that the central bank could revise upwards its outlook for economic growth and inflation, meaning that there is still no urgency to cut rates.

If the market comes to expect fewer rate cuts, or if hikes begin to be priced in (a very low risk in our view), the prices of risky assets will undergo a pronounced readjustment", warns Nanette Hechler-Fayd'herbe, strategist at Lombard Odier.

In addition to the Fed, the Bank of England (BoE) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) will also be meeting this week, and again no change in rates is expected from these two central banks.

The surprise could come from the Bank of Japan (BoJ), which according to market rumors intends to normalize its monetary policy by raising the cost of money and ending negative rates.

Like other European markets, the Paris market has enjoyed an unprecedented run of gains over the past three months, a momentum which enabled it to climb a further 1.7% last week and set new all-time highs.

This euphoria has led Robeco analysts to say that eurozone equities are "defying gravity", despite an economic climate of "stagnation" but "full employment".

Against this backdrop, investors will be paying particular attention on Thursday to the publication of preliminary PMI indices for the Old Continent's major economies.

"From an economic cycle point of view, a nascent recovery in the global manufacturing cycle could particularly benefit Europe and generate value", acknowledges strategist Peter van der Welle.

Robeco notes that European equity markets seem to have already priced in a full manufacturing recovery, which has yet to happen and may well not.

In today's statistics, annual inflation in the Eurozone stood at 2.6% in February 2024, down from 2.8% in January, and in the European Union at 2.8% after 3.1%, according to Eurostat.

According to initial estimates, the eurozone recorded a surplus of 11.4 billion euros in its trade in goods with the rest of the world in January 2024, compared with a deficit of 32.6 billion euros in January 2023.

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