The Paris Bourse is set to open slightly lower on Tuesday morning, in the absence of any catalysts to continue the upward trend seen at the start of the year, which took it to record levels in April.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the CAC 40 index - for June delivery - lost 15.5 points at 7187.5, signalling a start to the day in negative territory.

The Paris market had ended Monday's session down by almost 1% at 7,200 points, penalized in particular by the decline in luxury goods stocks, the real drivers of this year's market.

Investors seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude, in anticipation of the next element likely to push the market even higher, or on the contrary bring about an episode of consolation.

Many strategists are pointing out that the bullish winds that recently supported the indices are now turning: interest rates are rising, inflation is struggling to ease and the cost of capital is rising.

For some, a liquidity crisis could even be looming on the markets, with the risk of destabilization, not to mention the persistent uncertainties surrounding growth that are keeping market participants on their toes.

Furthermore, we see a clear dissonance between the Fed's no-rate-cut policy, the resilience of equity markets and bond market expectations - which include rate cuts as early as this year", points out Laura Corrieras, Equity Portfolio Manager at Indosuez Wealth Management.

The analyst notes, however, that European equities remain 'attractive' and continue to trade at a record discount to the US market.

At Kiplink Finance, the technical configuration of the CAC has become 'more favorable', with the possibility of closing the bearish gap between 7260 and 7300 points.

'The first bullish targets are now more ambitious, while resistance at 7375 and 7415 points is becoming affordable again', the brokerage believes.

The day promises to be a quiet one, in the absence of any major indicators or corporate results likely to set a trend.

Only German industrial orders and eurozone retail sales figures are expected later this morning.

With no major statistics on today's agenda, investors will be hard pressed to find any further inspiration in the bond compartment.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.69%, as the latest US indicators reinforced the prospect of a status quo from the Fed at the end of its meeting next week.

On the Old Continent, the yield on the 10-year Bund, the benchmark rate for the eurozone, gave up just over a basis point to 2.37% in early European trading.

In the energy market, benchmark crude oil contracts fell on profit-taking after rebounding strongly yesterday in response to OPEC's promise to cut production in order to support prices.

Brent crude lost 0.6% to $76.3 a barrel, while US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) shed 0.7% to $71.6.

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