The Paris Stock Exchange is on the rise this Friday for the final session of a decisive week, mainly marked by strategic decisions from the Fed. The CAC 40 index is up 0.7% at 8,140 points.

The Paris market gained 0.8% to 8,086 points last night, posting the best performance among European exchanges. The CAC is now showing an increase of more than 0.3% for the week overall, meaning today's performance will be crucial in determining its final weekly score.

Global equity markets have digested the latest announcements from the Federal Reserve fairly well, as it refrained from adopting an overly restrictive tone despite the current strength of the U.S. economy and the significant differences of opinion that persist within its monetary policy committee.

The post-FOMC environment has been particularly positive for Wall Street, despite disappointment over Oracle's weaker-than-expected quarterly results, which reignited fears of massive overinvestment in AI that could weigh on the accounts of American tech giants.

Weighed down by Oracle's underperformance, which plunged more than 10% yesterday, the Nasdaq Composite still ended Thursday's session in the red, but with a limited drop of 0.2% at 23,593.8 points, reflecting the constructive mindset of market participants just weeks before year-end.

"If this setback had occurred just three weeks ago, the market reaction would have been much more severe," Danske Bank teams commented this morning.

Signaling investor confidence, the Dow Jones climbed more than 1.3% last night to 48,704 points after setting a new all-time record during the day above 48,756.3 points, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% to 6,901 points, a rise that brought it within about twenty points of its all-time highs.

With the major uncertainty surrounding the Fed now lifted, the question remains whether markets still have enough fuel to launch into the traditional year-end rally.

Historically, global stock markets tend to rise during the final weeks of the year, benefiting from window dressing on the winning stocks of the past year and initial positioning for the year ahead.

However, the Dow Jones has already gained 14.5% since January 1, while the S&P and the Nasdaq are up 17% and 22% respectively, suggesting most of the action has already taken place.

In Paris, the CAC 40 is up nearly 10% this year, an impressive performance given the political uncertainties that curbed momentum in 2025, but the Paris index is less than 3% away from its all-time high, which could discourage investors from closing their books too early.

Now that the Fed meeting is behind, the market can also return to a more rational decision-making process, based on economic fundamentals and corporate results, with a new "season" set to begin as early as January.

Meanwhile, investors will turn their attention next week to the latest highly anticipated U.S. inflation and employment figures.

This will be the last full trading week before Christmas and New Year's, which could also mean lighter trading volumes.

Among today's indicators are final consumer price data in France. Consumer prices in France rose by 0.9% year-on-year in November 2025, the same rate observed in October, according to Insee, which thus confirms its provisional estimate for last month.