The Paris Bourse began the session higher, with the CAC40 up by around 0.8% to 6559 points, in low volumes as some investors were absent during this week's "trêve des confiseurs".

Confidence could be encouraged by Friday's positive close on Wall Street (+0.5% on the Dow Jones, +0.2% on the Nasdaq), as operators seemed to have rather appreciated the overall picture painted by the session's series of US statistics.

Indeed, mixed activity data argued in favor of a less restrictive stance from the Fed: while new home sales rose by 5.8% in November, durable goods orders contracted by 2.1% over the same period.

"We doubt that the rise in new home sales marks the start of a recovery, and we still expect 2023 to be a weak year for sales", commented Capital Economics after the publication.

Hopes of a softer monetary policy in the months ahead were also fuelled by a 'core PCE' price index (excluding food and energy), closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, which rose by just 4.7% in November, compared with 5.5% the previous month.

On the Paris stock front, Ipsen reported on Friday evening that it had received a complete response letter from the FDA on its application for approval of palovarotene, an experimental treatment for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.

Bic announced the finalization of its ESG share buyback program, announced and started in January 2022, carried out by BNP Paribas Exane on the basis of the authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting on May 19, 2021.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) announced today that it has finalized the sale of The Village, a property of nearly 56,000m2 located in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, to the Kroenke organization. The sale price of $325 million (100%, URW share 55%), reflects a 5.6% return on net operating income, and a 10.6% discount to the last appraisal.

TotalEnergies EP Gabon, a 58.3%-owned subsidiary of TotalEnergies, reports that it has signed an agreement with the Gabonese Republic to restructure certain provisions of the establishment agreement, the duration of which has been extended to 2042.

The company has also signed a new exploitation and production sharing contract (CEPP) with Gabon - holder of a quarter of its capital - on the Baudroie-Mérou Marine G5-143 permit, for a term of 25 years to 2047.

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