The European indices continue to pile up records with 48 hours to go before the "4 Witches" session: the CAC40 (+0.7%) has climbed to around 8,145pts, the Euro-Stoxx50 (+0.5%) "hooks" the 5,000 mark, and the DAX40 climbs to within touching distance of 18,000.
The Parisian flagship index almost doubled its performance, after gaining more than 0.8% the previous day, and despite a hesitant opening on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones at 0.2%, the S&P 500 at -0.1% and the Nasdaq at -0.4%.

The disappointing inflation report failed to halt the continuing strength of the equity markets, fuelled by investor enthusiasm for technology stocks, with generative AI at the center of all attention.

"Investments in this field, particularly in companies such as Meta and Salesforce, have achieved excellent returns in 2023", points out Erling Haugan Kise, fund manager at DNB Asset Management.
With few statistics on the agenda today, there was little movement on bonds, with the US T-Bond down +2.5pts to 4.182%, and the 2-yr bond down just +1pt to 4.61E.
In Europe, Bunds are tightening by +2pts, our OATs by +1pt to 2.346% and 2.784% respectively.
Note the new all-time high - one more - for Bitcoin, at $73.450, while the $ is weakening slightly against the Euro (+0.15% to 1.0945).

On the value front, Vallourec (+7%) announced that ArcelorMittal had reached an agreement to buy Apollo's 28.4% voting rights and 27.5% shareholding in its capital, for a total of 955 million euros.

BNP Paribas estimates that '2024 will be above the distributable net income published in 2023', and reports an acceleration and expansion of its operating efficiency measures by around 400 million recurring euros.

Solvay reports underlying net income from continuing operations of 588 million euros for 2023, compared with 740 million previously, but free cash flow (FCF) up 17.3% to 561 million, representing a record FCF conversion rate of 45.4%.

Dassault Systèmes and Rexel announce that their Boards of Directors will propose dividends of €0.23 and €1.20 per share respectively for 2023, in cash, to their AGMs.

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