The Paris stock market gained nearly 0.6% this morning, around 7,280 points, a few days ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), the outcome of which still seems highly uncertain.

The growing threats to the European economy, recently confirmed by a series of flagging indicators, are thwarting the ECB's stated intention to continue tightening its monetary policy.

The Frankfurt-based institute is currently walking on eggshells, as the accumulation of signs of slowdown on the Old Continent in a complex global environment, particularly in view of the difficulties encountered by China, is fuelling fears of a global recession in the second half of the year.

As a result, economists are more divided than ever as to whether the economic situation in the eurozone will prompt the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise its key rates further on Thursday.

Two schools of thought now seem to be at odds. The first, embodied by BofA and Capital Economics, believes that the high inflation figures, which point to a persistent cost-of-living crisis in the eurozone, justify a further rate hike.

Other analysts, such as those at Barclays, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, take the opposite view, believing that the ECB, having raised its key rates by 1.25 percentage points since July 2022, has reached its final level.

The ECB is not the only major central bank facing a real headache, and the Federal Reserve will also have to make crucial choices next week, at its FOMC meeting on September 19 and 20.

In French company news, Bic declares itself 'on track to achieve by 2025 the five-year objectives set' as part of its Horizon strategic plan, presented in November 2020. It claims sales growth of around 600 million euros over 2020-2022 in full years, and free cash flow generation of at least 200 million expected for the fifth consecutive year in 2023.

TFF Group posted first-quarter sales of 125.6 million euros, up 15% (+18% at constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation), driven by its two core businesses of wine and spirits (+10.8% and +25.3% respectively on a comparable basis).

Société Générale announced on Monday that it would be joining forces with Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management to launch a ten-billion-euro private debt fund.

Finally, Stellantis announced on Monday the launch of the third tranche of its share buyback program, for a maximum amount of 500 million euros.

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