The Paris Bourse slows down a little with 40Mn to go, as US indices erase their initial gains and fall one after the other into the red (Dow Jones -0.4%).

The CAC40 only gains 0.5% to 7.535, but is still chasing absolute records (which it will be if the index ends the day at this level) and has set a new one at 7,558 (+16.7% since January 1).
The day had started well, with the release of an encouraging Chinese indicator easing fears of a global recession.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 4.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, according to data published 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, whereas analysts were only expecting 2% growth.
Tokyo set the tone with a gain of +0.5%, followed at the opening by the European markets, which then extended their advance until around 3 p.m.: the Euro-Stoxx50 (+0.6% to 4,392) gained up to 0.9% to exceed the 4,395 of 5/01/2022, and remains in the race to match or beat its all-time closing record of 4,401 set on 16 and 17/11/2021.

The trend in New York this Tuesday is supported only by tech stocks: the Nasdaq remains afloat (unchanged at 12,150) after initially climbing towards 12,230, equalling its annual record of February 2 and March 31: this session could prove decisive and release new upside potential with 72 hours to go before the "3 Witches" session.

Another reason for relief: the ten-year Treasuries rate stabilized at around 3.557% (-3.5pts) 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 1.413,000 at an annualized rate in March, slightly missing the market consensus.
Despite the continuing deterioration in bond prices over the past four weeks, stock markets remain buoyed by growing optimism around the scenario of a "soft landing", which would see inflation ease off without translating into an entry into recession.

Earlier in the morning, investors were informed of an unexpected decline in Germany's ZEW investor sentiment index for April: the monthly survey stood at just 4.1 for the current month, compared with 13 in March and 28.1 in February.

This index of Germany's economic outlook thus confirms that it has entered a phase of decline, after 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 a foray above 3.00% this morning.

The euro has recovered 0.3% against the dollar to 1.0960, while gold (+0.2%) has settled in above $2,000 over the long term.

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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