PARIS (Reuters) - Wall Street is expected to be in the red on Friday after the first results from major US banks, while European stock markets continue to gain ground at mid-session, albeit at a slower pace than in the morning. Futures were down 0.28% for the Dow Jones, 0.39% for the Standard & Poor's-500 and 0.52% for the Nasdaq.

The opening trend on Wall Street will be greatly influenced by the quarterly results of Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

The latter two are shown lower in pre-market trading after announcing an increase in credit risk provisions in the fourth quarter in response to the economic slowdown.

In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.26% to 6,993.76 around 12:20 GMT, following a session peak of 7,029.52, the highest since February 16. In Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.17% and in London, the FTSE gained 0.5%.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.34%, the Eurozone EuroStoxx 50 by 0.34% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.32%.

Since the beginning of the year, European equities have benefited from an optimistic momentum, thanks to the continued slowdown in inflation in the eurozone and the United States, which could allow central banks to review the pace of their monetary tightening.

VALUES IN EUROPE

The biggest decliners on the CAC 40, Stellantis (-3.69%) and Renault (-2.43%) were penalized by Tesla's price cuts on some of their models. The American automaker dropped more than 4% in pre-market trading on Wall Street.

Air France-KLM gains 4.83% after UBS upgrades its rating to "buy" and Davy Research to "neutral".

CURRENCIES

The yen continued its advance, trading at its highest level since the end of May against the greenback, still buoyed by speculation that Japan might review its ultra-accommodating monetary policy.

The dollar recovered 0.17% against the other major currencies after hitting a seven-month low, as moderating US inflation fueled hopes that the Fed would slow the pace of its interest rate hikes.

The euro was trading at $1.0812, down 0.31%.

RATES

Government bond yields are back on the rise: the US ten-year, which had fallen back below 3.42% in the morning, is now back up to 3.4631%. The German equivalent is down to 2.11%.

OIL

Oil prices are rising and could post a 7% gain for the week as a whole, thanks to solid signs of demand growth in China and hopes that central banks will moderate their rate hikes.

Brent crude gained 0.61% to $84.54 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) 0.7% to $78.94.

(Laetitia Volga, edited by Kate Entringer)