The Paris Bourse is likely to open with no real trend on Thursday morning, as indices remain close to their all-time highs and nothing seems likely to dictate a trajectory for the equity markets.

At around 8:15 a.m., the CAC 40 future contract - May delivery - was down 8.5 points at 8116.5 points, heralding a stable or even slightly downbeat start to the session.

The Paris market had ended Wednesday's session with a 0.7% gain to 8,131 points, marking a fourth consecutive session of gains and bringing it a little closer to the highs reached at the end of March.

As expected, the session was rather quiet for the commemoration of the Armistice, even though 2.8 billion euros were traded - a very modest volume in normal times, but rather significant for a public holiday.

The Paris market is likely to remain relatively subdued today, as many traders will be absent for the Ascension Day holiday.

On Wall Street, the US equity markets posted a second consecutive session of narrow swings yesterday, with indices once again closing directionless, not far from their all-time peaks.

While the Dow Jones gained a little over 0.4%, the Nasdaq slumped 0.2%, largely as a result of the disappointing figures released by Uber.

While the earnings season has been rather good so far, its effect on the world's stock markets has remained fairly limited.

According to JPMorgan's calculations, 78% of companies did better than expected in the US and 56% exceeded expectations in Europe, a performance above the usual average.

'Despite the pleasant surprises that characterized US corporate accounts, stock market reaction remained lacklustre, as better-than-expected publications were greeted, on the whole, with nil scores, while 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' attention is still focused on the Federal Reserve and when it will start cutting rates, but it seems that the Fed itself doesn't know.

In Europe, few spectacular announcements can be expected today from the Bank of England (BoE), which will announce its rate decision at lunchtime.

In view of the signs of a sustained downturn in inflation, however, the institution could begin to prepare the ground for its next rate cut, perhaps as early as June.

Lombard Odier's strategists forecast: "We expect key rates to be cut by a total of 100 basis points this year, and the easing cycle to continue until the end of 2025".

Apart from US jobless claims, there are no major indicators on today's agenda.

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