The Paris stock market continues its run of absolute records, with the CAC40 setting a new one at 7,558 (+16.7% since January 1): the day had started well, with the release of an encouraging Chinese indicator allaying fears of a global recession.

Tokyo had set the tone with a gain of +0.5%, imitated from the opening by the European markets, which then extended their advance until around 3 p.m.: the Euro-Stoxx50 will gain up to 0.9% to exceed the 4,395 of 5/01/2022 and remains in the race to equal or beat its absolute closing record of 4,401 set on 16 and 17/11/2021.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released on Tuesday by the State Bureau of Statistics (BES).

On a monthly basis, the Chinese economy grew by 2.2% in the first three months of the year, where analysts were only expecting a 2% increase.

These figures suggest that the Chinese economy is doing better after having long suffered from the country's containment measures, mainly driven by a rebound in household consumption, Danske Bank staff commented this morning.

The announcement of better-than-expected growth in China is above all likely to calm investors' concerns about slowing growth.

The trend in New York on Tuesday was supported by tech stocks, with the S&P500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq up 0.6% to 12,230, equalling its annual record of February 2 and March 31: this session could prove decisive, releasing new upside potential 72 hours ahead of the "3 Witches" session.
Another reason for relief: the ten-year Treasuries rate stabilized at around 3.571% (-2Pts) after the publication of a -0.8% decline in housing starts.
The Commerce Department reported an -8.8% drop in US housing permits - which are supposed to foreshadow future housing starts - to an annualized rate of 1,413,000 in March, thus slightly missing the market consensus.
Despite the continued deterioration in bond yields over the past four weeks, stock markets remain buoyed by growing optimism surrounding the scenario of a "soft landing", which would see inflation ease off but not translate into a recession.


Earlier in the morning, investors learned of an unexpected decline in the ZEW index of German investor sentiment in April: the monthly survey came in at just 4.1 for the month, compared with 13 in March and 28.1 in February.

This index of German economic prospects thus confirms that it has entered a phase of decline, after a period of five consecutive months of recovery since its low point of -61.9 last September.

Bund yields eased slightly by -2pts to 2.46%, while OAT yields eased by -2.5pts to 2.952%, following an incursion above 3.00% this morning.

Still on the macroeconomic front, in the early afternoon, investors will take note of the figures for building permits and housing starts in the United States, which had rebounded strongly in February.

Investors will discover new corporate results, with above-expectations releases from Ericsson, then Johnson & Johnson and Bank of America, while Goldman Sachs disappoints on its sales figures; Netflix's accounts are due this evening.

Companies' quarterly earnings will be closely watched to see whether their prospects are not suffering too much from the growing uncertainties over the strength of the economy.

In the news for French companies, Virbac posted sales of €314.8 million for the first quarter of 2023, down slightly by 1% at real exchange rates and by 1.3% at constant exchange rates, mainly due to an unfavorable base effect in a slowing market.

Alstom has won a contract to design, supply and maintain ETCS level 2 signalling systems for 37 SNCB HLD77 locomotives over a 10-year period.

ArcelorMittal announced on Tuesday that it would be joining forces with Brazilian renewable energy producer Casa dos Ventos to create a joint venture from which it will purchase wind-generated electricity.


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