The Paris Bourse opens the session higher on Thursday morning, although investors are likely to remain cautious ahead of the release of monthly US inflation figures, the highlight of the week on the markets. The CAC40 index - advanced by 0.3% to 7445 points.

After the consolidation phase that began at the start of the year, stock markets are hoping to move forward again in the next few days, thanks to economic indicators as investors like them: reassuring about the health of the economy, but not sufficiently vigorous to rule out future rate cuts.

US inflation figures, to be released at 2.30pm by the Labor Department, are expected to have a major impact on market expectations regarding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

According to consensus, inflation in the US should have fallen in December, due to falling gasoline costs and rental prices.

The core consumer price index (CPI) is expected to have come in at +0.2% last month, compared with +0.3% in November.

"If this is confirmed, it will be further proof that the disinflation process is well underway across the Atlantic", comments Christopher Dembik, Investment Strategy Advisor at Pictet AM.

Futures on US indices are pointing to a 0.2% to 0.4% opening gain on Wall Street, following the gains of the previous day, which saw the S&P 500 index reach a new all-time closing high.

"This will be good news for the Fed, which will have a freer hand to choose the right moment to cut rates", explains the analyst.

The other hoped-for catalyst could come from the corporate sector, with the fourth-quarter earnings season kicking off tomorrow with the releases of the major US banks, led by JPMorgan.

According to FactSet, S&P 500 corporate profits are expected to have risen by 1.3% over the last three months of the year, marking a second consecutive quarter of earnings growth.

But investors will be paying particular attention to their outlook for 2024, given that the companies that have already unveiled their accounts have been rather cautious in their forecasts.

Benchmark bond yields are little changed in anticipation of the US statistics, at 4.03% for ten-year US Treasuries and 2.24% for the German Bund of the same maturity.

The dollar is down slightly against the euro ahead of the publication of the inflation report, but is up 4% against the single currency at this stage of the week.

After its bout of weakness the previous day, linked to the announcement of a modest weekly rise in US crude oil inventories last week, the oil market is back on the rise.

Brent gained 0.8% to $77.4 a barrel, while US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 0.7% to $71.9.

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