The Paris Bourse is likely to make little headway on Thursday after its gains of the previous day, with the absence of major indicators and Wall Street, closed for Independence Day, prompting investors to take a break.

At around 8:15 a.m., the 'future' contract on the CAC 40 index - July delivery - was up 31.5 points at 7,677 points, suggesting a modest advance in early trading.

Reassured by projections giving no possible majority to populist parties, the Paris market had gained 1.2% to 7,632 points, but without any real buying flows, with only 3.4 billion euros traded.

Today's trading session looks set to be quiet and lacklustre, as the New York Stock Exchange closes for the American national holiday on the eve of the eagerly-awaited monthly employment report.

A precarious standstill is therefore likely to prevail on the markets, which remain in search of direction and torn between political risks and the slowdown in global economic activity.

The macroeconomic situation remains complex at present, and the data provide uncertain information as to the next phase of the current cycle", explains Florian Ielpo, Head of Macroeconomic Research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

"Once confidence is established, whether on the upside or the downside, the markets will be able to choose their own direction", says the analyst.

The New York Stock Exchange nonetheless ended on new record highs last night, as investors continued to retreat to their comfort zone, namely technology stocks starting with Nvidia.

Published overnight, the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting nevertheless showed that inflation remained a major source of concern for the central bank, which cited the term 73 times in its document.

Earlier in Asia, the Nikkei index gained nearly 0.9%, despite a rise in the yen which was rather penalizing for Japanese export stocks.

This should provide some support for the trend in Europe this morning, when equity indices will not have the support of Wall Street.

The only statistic on today's menu is that German industrial orders may have started to rebound in May, with analysts expecting an increase of around 0.6%.

In Europe, the yield spread between the 10-year OAT and Bund fell back below 70 basis points ahead of a French auction that will be closely watched later today.

On the oil front, prices are consolidating after rising the previous day, driven by last week's announcement of a sharp drop in US crude inventories by the Energy Information Agency.

U.S. light crude is down 0.6% at $83.3, but remains at more than three-month highs, while North Sea Brent is down 0.5% below $86.9.

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