A slight upward wind continues to blow in Paris, with the CAC 40 gaining just over 0.3% around 7060 points, driven in particular by Schneider Electric (+5.5%) and Worldline (+2.8%).

However, investors seem to be finding it difficult to position themselves appropriately, a tricky task in view of the economic slowdown and ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

'The levels reached on the major indices on the downside could provide initial entry points once the current uncertainties have been partially resolved', according to the teams at Ofi Invest Asset Management.

Spreads are likely to remain limited on Thursday as we await the publication, early this afternoon, of the weekly unemployment figures for the United States.

After a speech that seemed like a non-event yesterday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be speaking again today at a conference organized by the IMF in Washington.

While the earnings season is now drawing to a close in the USA, corporate accounts should continue to dictate the trend in Europe, where groups such as ArcelorMittal, AstraZeneca, Deutsche Telekom, Merck KGaA and Telecom Italia have been published this morning or will be later today.

On the oil market, Brent crude prices recovered 0.7% to around $80 a barrel.
On the bond front, 10-year T-Bonds are trading at around 4.54% (+2pts), the German bund is up 3pts at 2.64% and the OAT +3pts at 3.23%.

In French company news, Veolia reported strong organic growth (on a like-for-like basis) in profits for the first nine months of the year, with current EBIT up 14.2% to 2.52 billion euros, and EBITDA up 7.7% to 4.79 billion.

For the third quarter of 2023, ArcelorMittal reports a 6.4% year-on-year decline in net income, Group share, to $929 million, and an EBITDA drop of almost 30% to $1.86 billion, although these levels are slightly ahead of consensus.

For the first nine months of 2023, Valneva reported a net loss down 30% to 69.3 million euros, despite a negative adjusted EBITDA rising from 38 to 46 million year-on-year, on total sales down 55.3% to 111.8 million.


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