The Paris stock exchange is trading slightly lower, hovering around 8,085 points, buoyed by gains in Pernod Ricard (+1.4%) and Capgemini (+1.1%) but dragged down by Kering and Hermès (both -1%) as US markets remain closed today for Thanksgiving. Wall Street will reopen tomorrow for a shortened "Black Friday" session.

Before the extended holiday weekend, US equities managed to notch a fourth consecutive session of gains yesterday, fueled by growing expectations of another Federal Reserve rate cut on December 10.

At its intraday high, the S&P 500 came within less than 90 points, or about 1.5%, of its all-time peak of 6,920.3 points set at the end of October.

European equity markets are also trading near record levels, albeit still further from their recent highs than New York. The CAC 40 remains at a distance (3.6%) from its record set about two weeks ago, as do the DAX (5.5%) and the EURO STOXX 50 (4.4%).

However, the pullback seen in global markets in November appears to have paved the way for the traditional year-end "rally." According to Stock Trader's Almanac, December ranks as the third-best month for the S&P 500, with average monthly returns between 1.4% and 1.5%.

With US markets closed, today's macroeconomic agenda is relatively light, though European investors will review the minutes from the latest ECB meeting. For three meetings now, the ECB has expressed satisfaction with the current situation, with inflation nearly at target and modest economic growth.

Meanwhile, German consumer sentiment has shown little change heading into the year's end, according to a study released Thursday that confirms the sluggishness of Europe's largest economy, still awaiting the first support measures from the government.

The GfK household confidence index, calculated by the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM) from a sample of 2,000 respondents, improved by 0.9 percentage points ahead of December, rising to -23.2 from -24.1 in November.

In the bond market, the 10-year OAT is trading around 3.41%, while the equivalent Bund stands at 2.69%. Brent crude remains stable at around $63.1 per barrel in London. The euro is also mostly steady against the dollar, at around $1.158.

In French corporate news, Trigano reported a 36.1% drop in net profit to 239.4 million euros for its 2025 fiscal year, or EUR12.41 per share, and a 32.9% decline in current operating profit to EUR335.9 million, with revenue down 6.8% to EUR3.66 billion.

Rémy Cointreau posted a 31.3% decrease in group net profit (including -16.2% organically) to EUR63.1 million for the first half of 2025-26, with current operating profit (ROC) at EUR108.7 million, down 13.6% organically.

Kaleon, a specialist in the enhancement, preservation, and conservation of Italian and international historical and artistic heritage, announced the successful completion of its IPO on Euronext Growth Milan and Euronext Paris, raising EUR16.5 million (including the extension clause), which could rise to EUR18 million if the over-allotment option is fully exercised.

Finally, secure agentic AI platform Prisme.ai announced a strategic partnership with Bouygues Telecom to power the new Studio IA, a unified environment designed to structure and industrialize AI use cases for the operator's employees.