(CercleFinance.com) - The Paris stock market was hesitant: first down slightly, then up slightly, then down again, from -0.3 to -0.35%, bringing the CAC40 back in touch with the 7,400 mark.

The Euro-Stoxx50 returned to equilibrium in a few minutes, up +0.3%, and Amsterdam broke away with a gain of over 1% in the wake of giant Unilever, which jumped +5%.
On Wall Street, the S&P500 (+0.1%) posted its 11th gain out of 12 sessions, and the Dow Jones (stable at 35,410) remained on course for an incredible 12/12, an all-time high at a time when operators felt that visibility was poor and the outlook for the 2nd half of the year more uncertain than ever.

As on the previous day, this session was dominated by a flood of quarterly results, but also by key economic events.

Germany's Ifo business climate index shows a sharp drop in confidence, down -1.3 points (from 88.6 to 87.3), and the "business leaders' assessment of current conditions" component is down -2.4 points to 91.3, versus 93 expected.
The release of the Conference Board's consumer confidence index remains to be seen.

On the other side of the Atlantic, many of the big names in the stock market will be releasing their quarterly results today, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Visa, General Motors, General Electric and Spotify (down -9% on below-consensus sales).
In France, Essilor-Luxottica and LVMH are expected to publish their results this evening, after the close of trading.

Investors are also likely to be relatively cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, expected tomorrow evening at 8 p.m.
The Fed's policy committee meeting begins today and will conclude on Wednesday with a press conference by Chairman Jerome Powell.
In the meantime, long yields are down slightly, with +2.8pts on our OATs to 2.975%, +3.1pts on Bunds to 2.42% and US T-Bonds under pressure by +5.5pts to 3.91%.

In French company news, Thales has reached an agreement with Thoma Bravo, a major software investment firm, to acquire 100% of Imperva. Imperva is the US leader in data and application cybersecurity. The acquisition has an enterprise value of $3.6 billion.

TotalEnergies announces the acquisition of the entire share capital of Total Eren, increasing its stake from nearly 30% to 100%. Total Eren's teams will be fully integrated into the oil and gas group's renewables business unit.

Alstom reports sales of nearly 4.2 billion euros for its first quarter 2023-24 (April to June), up 4.3% year-on-year (+7.6% organic), 'in line with the targeted trajectory'.

Société Générale announces the success of the capital increase reserved for its employees and retirees, as part of its 2023 Global Employee Share Ownership Plan (the 30th proposed by the Group), which has just been completed.

Finally, Orpea announces that its accelerated safeguard plan has been approved by the Nanterre Specialized Commercial Court. According to Laurent Guillot, the group's CEO, this decision 'will enable new shareholders to take a stake in a group that will already have a completely different face'.

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