The Paris Bourse is likely to start Tuesday morning without any major trend, in its first session since Friday's publication of rather reassuring inflation figures for the United States.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the CAC 40 index - April delivery - climbed 5.5 points to 8229 points, suggesting an unchanged opening.

The core PCE inflation index, which excludes volatile items such as energy and food, rose by an annualized 2.8% in February, compared with an increase of 2.9% in January.

This is its lowest level since 2021, when the first inflationary pressures began to emerge after the Covid crisis.

These figures - which confirm the slowdown in inflation across the Atlantic - could prompt the Federal Reserve to lower rates in the near future.

The statistics were published on Friday, while Wall Street and European equity markets were closed for Good Friday.

Despite this better-than-expected statistic, Wall Street began the second quarter on a relatively lacklustre note yesterday, with the Dow Jones down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.1% on mixed signals from the US manufacturing sector.

Back in front of their screens after the long Thanksgiving weekend, European investors are likely to be cautious ahead of a busy week of economic indicators and speeches by Fed officials.

The US employment figures, to be released on Friday, are unlikely to be enough to alter expectations of rate cuts, but could provide further information on the pace of the Fed's future monetary easing.

On the indicator front, tomorrow investors will take note of the ISM services index in the US, as well as the latest inflation figures for the eurozone.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will also be speaking on Wednesday about the economic outlook at a forum organized by Stanford University (California).

A new episode of tension between Israel and Iran is also pushing up oil prices and safe-haven stocks following strikes by Tsahal on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which left several people dead.

This heightened tension, which has raised fears of escalation in the Middle East, is reflected on the markets by a rise in oil prices, with a barrel of US light crude (WTI) up 0.5% at over $84.1.

Gold, government bonds and the dollar are also trending favorably.

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