The Paris Bourse is set to open slightly higher on Friday, still buoyed by hopes of a change in Fed strategy and a new series of economic indicators.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the December-delivered CAC 40 index was up seven points at 7583.5, pointing to a small opening gain.

After setting a new all-time high of 7653.9 points during the morning, the Paris market had ended Thursday's session 0.6% higher at 7575 points.

Buoyed by the Fed's more accommodative approach, the CAC 40 is currently heading for a limited weekly gain of 0.2%, but which promises a fifth consecutive week of gains.

The Fed's more accommodative tone, the most significant event of the week, has reinforced market sentiment for a loosening of monetary policy next year.

The markets thought they were getting all the positive messages they wanted from Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks, namely resilient growth accompanied by inflation now under control.

On this side of the Atlantic, the ECB's speech was admittedly more cautious, but analysts expect the European Central Bank to also start cutting rates in 2024, given the constant downward revision of its growth and inflation forecasts.

The day will be enlivened, among other things, by preliminary PMI survey figures on private-sector activity in Europe, which are expected to show further contraction.

'The outlook for demand, whether European or global, is fairly gloomy, and the impact of past rate hikes remains negative', point out Oddo BHF economists.

This is not the ideal backdrop to make purchasing managers much more optimistic", stresses the private bank.

Also to be followed this afternoon, in the United States, the New York Fed's Empire State index, followed by industrial production.

Post-central bank euphoria continues on the bond market, where the yield on 10-year Treasuries now seems comfortably under the 4% threshold.

Yields on German Bunds of the same maturity, the benchmark for eurozone debt, are plunging towards 2.1%.

On the currency front, the euro is still showing strength, clinging to the 1.10 threshold, while traders no longer seem so sure that the ECB will beat the Fed in this rate-cutting cycle.

This final session of the week could prove volatile, however, due to the "Four Witches" day, which marks the expiry of numerous futures and derivatives contracts.

But now that the CAC 40 has managed to free itself from its major resistance at 7550 points, the continuation of the upward movement should in all likelihood take it to new highs, beyond 7600 points, if we are to base our bets on technical analysts.

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