(CercleFinance.com) – The Paris Stock Exchange should open without any real trend on Thursday morning, while the indices remain close to their historic highs and nothing seems capable of dictating a trajectory to the stock markets.
Around 8:15 a.m., the ‘futures’ contract on the CAC 40 index – May delivery – fell by 8.5 points to 8116.5 points, announcing a stable start to the session, or even a slight decline.
The Parisian market ended Wednesday’s session with a gain of 0.7%, to 8,131 points, thus signing a fourth consecutive session of increase, which allows it to get a little closer to its peaks reached at the end of March.
As expected, the session turned out to be rather calm for the commemoration of the Armistice, even if 2.8 billion euros were still exchanged, a very modest volume in normal times but rather significant for a public holiday.
The Parisian market should still remain relatively hollow today due to the absence of numerous operators for the Ascension Bridge.
On Wall Street, American stock markets lined up a second consecutive session of narrow oscillations yesterday, with indices closing once again directionless, not far from their historic peaks.
If the Dow Jones gained a little more than 0.4%, the Nasdaq fell by 0.2%, notably under the influence of the disappointing figures revealed by Uber.
If the results season has been rather good so far, its effect on global stock markets has remained quite limited.
According to JPMorgan’s calculations, 78% of companies did better than expected in the United States and 56% exceeded expectations in Europe, a performance above the usual average.
‘Despite the good surprises which characterized the accounts of American companies, the reaction on the stock market remained gloomy, since the publications better than expected were greeted, on the whole, with zero scores, while the disappointments were punished more harshly than usual’, observes the New York bank.
In this sluggish environment, it seems difficult to predict where the next catalyst will come from.
Investors’ focus continues to be on the Federal Reserve and when it will begin cutting rates, but it appears the Fed doesn’t know that itself.
In Europe, few spectacular announcements can be expected today from the Bank of England (BoE), which will communicate its decision on rates at lunchtime.
Given the signs of a lasting decline in inflation, the institution could, however, begin to prepare the ground for a next cut in its rates, perhaps as early as June.
‘We expect key rate cuts of 100 basis points in total this year and a continuation of the easing cycle until the end of 2025,’ predict Lombard Odier strategists.
Apart from registrations for unemployment benefits in the United States, no major indicator is on today’s agenda.
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