According to early indications, the CAC 40 is set to start the day up by more than 0.2%, the German DAX is expected to rise by 0.3%, but the FTSE 100 looks likely to open relatively flat.

While gold and silver prices have managed to rebound after plunging last Friday and Monday, risk appetite now appears to be dampened by a string of corporate results falling short of expectations.

"Markets are being shaken by several major forces at once right now, some of which are often behind particularly sharp moves," Danske Bank analysts observed this morning.

On the earnings front, the latest batch has hardly proven inspiring, a reason for caution given the currently high market valuations.

Novo Nordisk is expected to plunge heavily at Wednesday's opening on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange after issuing a warning on its 2026 outlook, with the pharmaceutical group forecasting a 5% to 13% decline in sales and operating profit at constant exchange rates—well below market expectations.

Among other companies reporting this morning, heavyweights such as Crédit Agricole, Equinor, and Novartis also posted results below forecasts.

Across the Atlantic, AMD managed to beat expectations last quarter thanks to 34% growth driven by AI, but its stock was expected to fall 7% on Wednesday, following the wave of selling that hit Wall Street last night.

Software stocks were particularly hard hit after Anthropic launched a tool designed to automate legal work, intensifying concerns about the threat facing software and services firms—already a focal point for investors in recent months.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones managed to limit its decline to 0.3%, but the Nasdaq 100 dropped by more than 1.5%.

Investors will be watching for Alphabet's results tonight to assess whether the tech giant can reassure markets that have become especially jittery about the sector.

Market participants also seem keen to take a breather at the start of a session that will be dominated by a raft of economic indicators.

In Europe, the morning will be paced by services PMI indices, but market attention is expected to focus mainly this afternoon in the United States on the ISM services survey, forecast at 53.5 after 54.4 the previous month.

Beyond the headline figure, this indicator will be closely scrutinized after Monday's positive surprise in the manufacturing ISM, as well as due to the increased importance of the employment component, with the official January jobs report not being published on Friday.

In this context, the ADP report on US private sector employment, due at midday, will also take on unusual importance, with around 45,000 private sector job gains anticipated in January.

Attention this morning will also turn to the publication of eurozone inflation, which is expected to have slowed by 0.2 points in January to 1.7% year-on-year, due to energy-related base effects, while core inflation is expected to remain stable at 2.3% over one year.

In any case, it appears unlikely that these data will significantly alter the European Central Bank's monetary policy outlook, with the ECB expected to maintain a "status quo" on rates at its meeting scheduled for tomorrow.