The Paris Bourse gained nearly 0.3% this morning, around 7720 points, driven in particular by Eurofins Scientific (+4%) and STMicro (+2.6%).

After four weeks of intense turbulence, the Paris market seems to have calmed down since the start of the week, but remains weakened by the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the second round of legislative elections taking place this Sunday.

At this stage of the week, the CAC 40 is still posting a weekly gain of almost 3%.

'Barring a major polling error, the political situation in France should be a little less of a marker for the CAC 40 over the next few sessions', says Christopher Dembik, Investment Strategy Advisor at Pictet Asset Management.

This makes sense: on average, more than 60% of the sales of major listed companies are generated abroad", he explains.

"This puts into perspective the immediate effect of the legislative elections on the business of these companies", concludes the analyst.

In a strategy note published yesterday, Morgan Stanley strategists consider that now is the right time to buy French equities in view of a possible relief "rally" following Sunday's vote.

In the UK, Labour's unsurprising victory in yesterday's general election, which ended 14 years of Conservative rule, is being greeted with little emotion by the markets.

Caution should nonetheless limit sharp positions just hours before the release of monthly employment figures in the USA, which are likely to influence the Fed's forthcoming decisions.

The US labor market has been decelerating slowly but surely over the past few months, which could prompt the central bank to specify its rate-cutting schedule soon.

The consensus is for a slowdown in non-farm payrolls to 190.000 in June, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 4%.

While investors will be keeping a close eye on US employment statistics this afternoon, they learned this morning that in May 2024 in France, production was down sharply over one month in both manufacturing (-2.7% after +0.5% in April) and total industry (-2.1% after +0.6%), according to Insee's CVS-CJO data.

Furthermore, in May 2024, France's trade balance deteriorated again, according to CVS-CJO data from the customs administration, with the deficit widening to 7.99 billion euros from 7.56 billion the previous month.

Finally, after remaining virtually unchanged in April (+0.1%), German industrial production volumes fell by 2.5% in May compared with the previous month, according to Destatis seasonally and calendar adjusted data.

On the European bond market, the yield on the French ten-year OAT eased to 3.25% following yesterday's successful Treasury auctions.

The German Bund yield is moving towards 2.56%, giving a stable spread below 70 pts, synonymous with a decline in the risk premium associated with French assets.

Finally, Brent crude oil remains stable at around $87.5 a barrel.

In French company news, BASF and Engie announce that they have signed a seven-year biomethane purchase agreement, under which the French energy group will supply the German chemicals giant with 2.7 to 3 terawatt-hours of biomethane over the contract period.

Renault Group says it is joining the New Energies Coalition for Transport and Logistics, intending to collaborate with industry experts to develop innovative and sustainable solutions for freight and the use of AI in the supply chain.

Finally, Technip Energies and Dutch SBM Offshore announced on Friday the creation of Ekwil, an equally-owned joint venture entirely dedicated to the emerging floating offshore wind market.

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