The Paris Bourse has slipped into the red, with the CAC40 now down by around 0.4%, after a banner year in 2023 which saw the index gain around 16.5% to finish at 7543 points.

The markets are still fuelled by hopes of rate cuts by the major central banks, in the face of a steady decline in inflation and sluggish economic growth.

"Weak economic conditions should help bring inflation down to around 2% by the end of 2024 in the eurozone and Switzerland, a figure that falls within the central banks' 'comfort zone'", as SwissLife AM predicted last week.

This first week of 2024 promises to be a busy one on the statistics front, with PMI indices (starting with those for the manufacturing sector this morning), inflation figures for the eurozone and unemployment figures for the USA.

The HCOB PMI index for French manufacturing industry, produced by S&P Global, fell from 42.9 in November to 42.1 in December 2023, its lowest level since May 2020, signalling a sharp deterioration in the sector's economic situation.

The year 2023 ended with a further sharp decline in activity in the eurozone manufacturing sector: the HCOB PMI index recovered only marginally in December, falling from 44.2 in November to 44.4.

In stock news, Danone announced the signing of an agreement to sell its organic dairy products business in the USA to the US investment firm Platinum Equity, as part of its asset rotation.

TotalEnergies reports the start of production from the second phase of development of the Mero field, located on the Libra block more than 180 kilometers offshore Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the pre-salt Santos basin.

AstraZeneca reports that Beyfortus (nirsevimab), developed with Sanofi, has been approved in China for the prevention of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in newborns and infants entering or during their first RSV season. Beyfortus is expected to be available during the next RSV season 2024-2025.

HSBC Continental Europe (HBCE), a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, announces that it has completed, on January 1, 2024, the sale of its retail banking activities in France to CCF, a subsidiary of Promontoria MMB SAS (My Money Group). As part of the transaction, HBCE also sold its 100% stake in HSBC SFH (France), which is now fully owned by CCF and changed its name to CCF SFH as of January 1.

Valneva indicates that the 90 to 110 million euros of revenue linked to the potential sale of the priority review warrant for its CHIKV vaccine, previously expected by the end of 2023, are now expected in early 2024.

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