Since 11:30 a.m., scores on the Paris Bourse have been largely frozen at around -0.4%.
The CAC40 has stalled at 7,015/7,020pts after gaining +300pts in a straight line - rising from 6,800 to 7,100 points overall - before ending the week at 7,050.100 points - before ending the week in contact with the 7,050 mark.
The Euro-Stoxx50 is also down -0.4% (as is the DAX), while US indices are broadly stable (Dow Jones), or even up slightly by 0.1 to 0.15% (Nasdaq).
The day's agenda of macro-economic indicators was summed up by the HCOB 'composite PMI' index of global activity in France: this recovered very slightly from 44.1 in September (a 34-month low) to 44.6 in October, but the 'composite' remains anchored well below the median threshold of 50.
The teams at La Financière de l'Echiquier warn that "not only is the current level of activity deteriorating, but the outlook is also poor, given the collapse in demand, which is beginning to have negative consequences for employment".


The earnings season is drawing to a close on both sides of the Atlantic (for US companies, sales rose by +19%... but 2/3 of this increase was due to the good results of the 'Fantastic 7'.

The most significant factor was the FED's more dove-like speech last Wednesday: the Federal Reserve granted the markets' wish by pushing bond yields down by -30 to -40pts.
T-Bonds rallied by +8pts to 4.6320%, while in Europe, Bunds rose by +10pts to 2.737% and OATs by +10pts to 3.332%.... and even +12Pts on Italian BTPs at 4.565%.

Investors may have got a little carried away on Friday with the US employment figures (NFP), which showed that the US economy was being driven by a "goldilocks" economy, characterized by better-controlled inflation and growth that was neither too fast nor too slow.

After months of uncertainty, the normalization of monetary policy looks set to become the dominant theme for the end of 2023.
The euro is stabilizing at 1.0735 against the dollar, after rising +1.3% last week.
In French company news, Française des Jeux (FDJ) announces the completion of its acquisition of Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI), the operator with exclusive rights to operate Ireland's national lottery until 2034, following authorization from the national regulator last October.

In a business update, Orpea announces an increase in sales of over 11%, and updates its financial projections, now expecting EBITDAR for 2023 to be at the lower end of the range of 705 to 750 million euros communicated on July 13.

Finally, as part of its commitment to sustainable development, Verallia announces that it has finalized the acquisition of three companies from the Santaolalla group (Ecosan Ambiental, Ecolabora and Vidrologic) in Spain and Portugal.


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