Europe's main stock markets are expected to open cautiously on Wednesday, ahead of the publication of US inflation figures and the first corporate results for the January-March period.

According to initial indications, the Paris CAC 40, which set an all-time record on Tuesday at 7,403.67 points, is set to lose 0.02% at the opening on Wednesday. Frankfurt's Dax could nibble 0.06% and London's FTSE 100 0.01%. The EuroStoxx 50 index is expected to decline by 0.09%.

Following Friday's release of the monthly US employment report, investors will be awaiting the US consumer price index (CPI) for March at 12:30 GMT on Wednesday. The Reuters consensus forecasts a deceleration in CPI to 0.2% month-on-month and 5.2% year-on-year. The "core" CPI index, the one most closely followed by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), is forecast to slow by 0.4% after 0.5% the previous month, but over a year it may have accelerated to 5.6% from 5.5% previously.

In addition to this statistic, the market will be informed on Thursday of US producer prices (PPI) and final German consumer price figures for March.

Investors are also looking ahead to this week's first-quarter corporate results, with the luxury goods sector's LVMH on Wednesday, followed by Hermès and the major US banks on Friday.

Analysts expect S&P-500 companies to report quarterly results down 5.2% year-on-year, compared with the 1.4% growth previously expected at the start of the year, according to data from Refinitiv.

"Investors are waiting for the big events - CPI, PPI and the banks that will be releasing their results," sums up Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

"If the Fed gets to a point where it simply holds rates steady, the markets can potentially do well. What worries me is that if the Fed continues to tighten (monetary conditions), it will continue to create stress for some banks," he added.

The minutes of the Fed's March 21-22 meeting, scheduled for 18:00 GMT, may provide some insight into the trajectory of rates and the impact of the banking stress seen last month.

ON WALL STREET

The New York Stock Exchange finished mixed on Tuesday, with only the Dow Jones ending in the green amid a wait-and-see attitude due to US inflation data and the start of the earnings season.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.29%, or 98.27 points, to 33,684.79 points.

The broader S&P-500 lost 0.17 points, marginally down, to 4,108.94 points.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 52.48 points (0.43%) at 12,031.88.

Sensitive to changes in the economy, sectors such as manufacturing and transportation buoyed the Dow Jones, while the Nasdaq and S&P-500, which were up for a time, slipped into the red towards the end of the session.

Wall Street briefly made gains in the afternoon after Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee called for caution and warned that the US central bank must be careful not to be too aggressive in raising rates to curb inflation.

On the value side, players in the cryptocurrency sector such as Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital jumped between 6% and 17% on the back of bitcoin's rise.

ASIA

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index advanced 0.68% to 28,112.48 points, while the broader Topix gained 0.76% to 2,006.92 points at the close. The indices thus recorded a fourth consecutive session in the green, supported by signs of increased consumption in department stores and the prospect of increased investment in the archipelago by American billionaire Warren Buffett.

In China, the Shanghai SSE Composite gained 0.29%, while the CSI 300 fell by 0.15%.

The MSCI index of Asian and Pacific stocks (excluding Japan) was down 0.17%.

STOCKS TO WATCH IN EUROPE:

CHANGES

The dollar was little changed on Wednesday (-0.06%) against a basket of reference currencies as it awaited US inflation data.

The euro climbed 0.14% to $1.0925 after hitting a one-week low on Monday.

Bitcoin, which peaked on Tuesday at a ten-month high of $30,438 in a context of risk appetite, was trading on Wednesday at $29,969.48 (-0.74%).

RATES

Yields on ten-year and two-year US Treasury bonds were broadly stable, at 3.4299% and 4.0414% respectively.

Ten-year and two-year German Bund yields are also virtually unchanged, at 2.69% and 2.30% respectively.

OIL

Oil prices are virtually unchanged ahead of US inflation data, which could weigh on interest rates, the dollar and ultimately demand.

Brent gained 0.21% to $85.79 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) 0.18% to $81.68.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Matthieu Protard and Kate Entringer)

by Claude Chendjou