The Paris stock market is down to 0.2% at 7,280, while the CAC40 erased Tuesday's losses and gained as much as 0.6% at 7,325 points, driven in particular by Stellantis (+3.6%) and by the rebound of LVMH, Hermès and especially Kering, which each gained around 2%.
The luxury goods sector benefited in particular from the good news coming out of China, where manufacturing activity expanded in February for the second month in a row.

In France, on the other hand, the manufacturing sector contracted, with the overall S&P PMI falling from 50.5 in January to 47.4 in February.

The index was dragged down by new orders, whose contraction accelerated for the first time since October 2022. This deterioration was reflected in production levels, which fell for the ninth consecutive month.

The first day of March promises to be packed with statistics, including the first estimate of Germany's consumer price index for February.

These figures will be particularly closely watched as the recent acceleration of inflation in countries such as the USA and France has worried markets about the timing of monetary tightening.

Traders will also be paying close attention to the US ISM manufacturing index, to be published in the afternoon.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector stood at 52.6 last month, compared with 50.1 in January, the State Bureau of Statistics (BES) said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the BES, factory output returned to normal at a faster-than-expected pace last month, indicating a continuing improvement in the economic climate.

The battery of statistics expected today is likely to fuel the debate on rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the ECB, resulting in a rise in the dollar and bond yields.

On the bond market, long-term European yields are back on the rise, hitting new multi-year highs.

The yield on the 10-year German Bund, Europe's benchmark, has jumped +8pts to 2.714%.
Our OATs set a new ceiling of almost 3.2% (tested during the session) with +8pts to 3.19%

Across the Atlantic, the yield on 10-year Treasuries rebounded from 3.91% to 3.95%, after peaking at over 3.97% yesterday, as the latest US indicators reinforced the prospect of a recession, and therefore a pause in the Fed's rate hike cycle.

If the US economy starts to weaken, this should reduce pressure on bond yields and weaken the US dollar," points out Steven Bell, Chief Economist at Columbia Threadneedle.


In company news, Eurofins Scientific (-11.5%) reports adjusted net profit for 2022 down 35% to 683 million euros, or 3.43 euros per share, and adjusted EBITDA down 20% to 1.51 billion, representing a margin down 5.8 points to 22.5%.

Atos (+8%) reported a net loss for 2022 of 1.01 billion euros, down from 2.96 billion euros the previous year, but an operating margin down 0.4 points to 3.1% of sales.

For the past year, Neoen reported a 19% increase in adjusted net income to 48 million euros, and a 38% increase in adjusted EBITDA to 414 million, "in line with the announced target".

By 2030, Neoen (-14%) plans to reach a target capacity in operation or under construction of over 20 GW. It also reiterates its ambition to achieve a rate of new project wins of at least 2 GW per year from 2025 onwards.

Finally, Saint-Gobain (+2%) announces that it has finalized the sale, announced on December 12, of all its UK trading brands - including building materials and wood distributor Jewson - to the Stark Group.

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