The Paris stock market (+0.7%) got the week off to a good start, but on a very light footing, with less than 1 billion euros traded in 7 hours of trading.
The CAC40 benefited from the support of a number of luxury goods stocks (Hermès +3%), followed by Teleperformance (+3.4%) and Unibail (+2.5%).
The Euro-Stoxx50 gained +0.6%, following in the footsteps of Frankfurt and Paris, while Wall Street reopened cautiously higher (gains of +0.2% to +0.4% on the Dow Jones and Nasdaq).

The markets are as wait-and-see as ever (in fact, they have been for the past week) ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcements on Wednesday, followed by those of the ECB on Thursday, against a backdrop of falling inflation and slowing economic activity.

In the case of the Fed, Jerome Powell and his collaborators could opt for a 'status quo' after having implemented the strongest monetary tightening in the United States since 1994.

'Macro data point to a weakening in demand, a necessary condition for reducing inflationary pressures. We therefore believe that the pause will be long-lasting', predicts Oddo BHF.

The ECB, for its part, is likely to raise all its key rates in the face of inflationary pressures that are easing, but which the central authority considers to be as worrying as ever.

Investors are nevertheless hoping that the Frankfurt-based institution will hint that its rate-hardening cycle is nearing an end, and that only small adjustments at the margin are now to be expected.

Knowing that the market is focused on easing inflation, it could react very favorably to signs of appeasement from the ECB, whereas a rigorous approach should be ignored", say Danske Bank's teams.

The attention that will be paid to central banks risks, however, relegating macroeconomic news to the background, despite the fact that it promises to be very dense, with numerous statistics on the menu over the next few days.

Wall Street, in particular, is gearing up for a week rich in indicators that could reinforce the Fed's determination to adopt a more cautious approach.

US consumer price figures, due tomorrow, will be closely scrutinized by investors.

Signs of improvement on the inflation front would undoubtedly bolster the scenario of a "pause" in the Fed's action, and could thus support stock markets.
Bond markets are also very reserved, with T-Bonds up 4 basis points to 3.782%. Things are a little better in Europe, with OATs down 1.5 basis points to 2.912%, Italian BTPs down 6 basis points to 4.058%, while Bunds remain perfectly stable at 2.38%.
Foreign exchange was flat, with the dollar gaining 0.1% to 1.0755/E.

The only really significant movement on Monday was on the oil market, with Brent crude dropping -3% to $72.8, dragging down Total Energies (-1.6%) and oil-related companies.

In the news for French companies, Vivendi announces that it has obtained authorization from the European Commission to carry out its planned merger with the Lagardère group, an authorization which remains subject to the fulfillment of two commitments proposed by Vivendi.

Wendel announces the launch of a seven-year bond issue for an amount of 300 million euros and, subject to successful completion of this issue, a buyback offer for the bond issue maturing in April 2026.

Finally, Invest Securities downgrades its recommendation on Dassault Systèmes shares from 'buy' to 'neutral', while slightly raising its target from 38 to 40 euros. The research firm highlights the company's "impressive but unsurprising trajectory".


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