The Paris Bourse is set to open little changed on Thursday morning, confirming the pause seen since its all-time peaks reached mid-week last year, as the corporate earnings season continues in full swing.

At around 8.15am, the 'future' contract - February delivery - on the CAC 40 index was up 12 points at 7,632.5, suggesting a minimal advance in early trading.

The Paris market seems to be looking for direction under a fresh shower of results, with early morning reports from ArcelorMittal, Crédit Agricole, Kering, Publicis and Société Générale.

A wait-and-see attitude prevails ahead of the release of US jobless claims in the early afternoon, which could confirm the hypothesis of a "soft landing" for the US economy.

On Wall Street, investors still seem convinced that a "Goldilocks"-type scenario has materialized, encouraging them to continue turning to the equity markets.

Yesterday, the S&P 500 index broke through the psychologically important 5,000-point barrier for the first time, continuing the upward trend that has been underway since the start of the year.

The Dow Jones (+0.4%) also posted its best-ever close, while the Nasdaq (+0.56%) set a closing zenith, propelled to new heights by AMD, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta.

Nevertheless, caution prevailed in the bond market, where investors continued to digest - with some difficulty - the latest statements by Jerome Powell and Neel Kashkari.

The Fed's two top dignitaries have pushed back the horizon for rate easing, with perhaps no more than two to three rate cuts envisaged in 2024, due to growth that remains singularly robust.

As a result, yields on US Treasury bonds are tightening again, with the ten-year paper reaching 4.11%.

Oil prices remain on an upward trend following yesterday's release of data from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) indicating a further weekly rise in US crude oil inventories.

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