The Paris Bourse is set to continue its uninterrupted uptrend on Thursday morning, buoyed by expectations of a further slowdown in US inflation this afternoon.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the CAC 40 index - for delivery at the end of January - advanced by 12.5 points to 6939 points, heralding a slightly higher start to the session.

Investors should avoid taking large positions just a few hours before the US inflation report, which will be the highlight of this week's trading.

Feverishly awaiting the Fed's monetary policy, market participants are hoping that these figures will confirm that prices have peaked, or even that they are beginning to fall back for good.

Market operators will be paying particular attention to the consumer price index excluding energy and food products, known as the 'core' index, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation indicator.

Investors are expecting core inflation, which excludes food and energy, to reach an annual rate of 5.7% in December, compared with 6% the previous month and a high of 6.6% in September.

These figures will be eagerly awaited in an attempt to determine the future monetary policy of the Fed, whose next meeting is scheduled for January 31 and February 1.

The statistics will also be crucial in protecting the scores accumulated during the stock markets' thunderous start to the year.

If the year 2022 proved painful, the results since January 1 have been much more positive for the equity markets, with the MSCI World index up by almost 5% in less than two weeks.

In the United States, the S&P 500 gained 3.4% over the period, while the Nasdaq recovered around 4.4%.

In Paris, where the CAC has jumped 7% since the start of the year to climb back above the symbolic 6900-point threshold, there are no signs of a turnaround for the time being, and technical analysts expect the Parisian index to quickly return to the 6910/6950-point zone already tested.

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