The start of the February stock market term is marked by confidence, and absolute records on Wall Street (which helps).
The Paris stock market gained 0.6, around the 7,415-point mark, driven by Alstom (+4.3%), ST-Micro et v (+2.6%) and BNP Paribas (+2%).
The Euro-Stoxx50 also gained +0.7%, to 4,481, while Amsterdam stood out with +1%.
Wall Street gained +0.4%, with the Dow Jones +0.5% and a 3rd consecutive absolute record broken by the Nasdaq-100 (and a second on the 'S&P' and the Nasdaq Composite), up +0.3% to 17.400 (the 'S&P', with a gain of more than 0.3%, flirted with 4,855).

This morning saw a real mini-crash on the Shenzhen stock market, with -5.4% and -12.3% cumulative since the start of the year (disappointing business figures published in China this morning).
The Hang-Seng in Hong Kong (-2.3% on Monday and -12.2% year-on-year) has retested its late-October 2022 lows: it has fallen 13 out of 15 sessions since January 1, and there is an atmosphere of capitulation that could precede some cheap buybacks.
The week ahead promises to be a busy one on the economic front, culminating in the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy meeting on Thursday, ahead of the Fed's meeting next week.

In view of the statements made by its President, Christine Lagarde, last Wednesday in Davis, the Frankfurt-based institute is likely to resist market calls for a rate cut as early as March.

Investors are likely to be disappointed', warns Christopher Dembik, Investment Strategy Advisor at Pictet AM.

'In the very short term, it is not in the ECB's interest to reveal too much about the timing of the first rate cut and the pace of the easing process', he adds.

Given the uncertainties surrounding the evolution of monetary policy in Europe and the United States, traders will be focusing on corporate earnings, which are set to multiply this week.

In particular, investors will be hoping that the releases of numerous technology heavyweights such as Netflix, Tesla, IBM and Intel will breathe new life into the market.

These announcements will be closely watched as Wall Street set new records on Friday evening, still buoyed by the good form of stocks linked to semiconductors and AI.

Several European stock market giants are also due to publish their accounts over the coming days, including ASML, LVMH, Nokia, SAP and STMicroelectronics.

The week will also be punctuated by the PMI activity indices for Europe, due on Wednesday, followed by the first estimate of fourth-quarter US growth, due on Thursday.

In the bond segment, the upward trend in US Treasury yields is easing slightly after a heavy +25Pts last week on all maturities from 2 to 30 years.
The US 10-year yield eased by -4.5pts to 4.104%, while its German equivalent, the Bund with the same maturity, also eased -5pts to 2.255% and our OATs -5pts to 2.7750%.
Brent crude is up +1.3% at $79.2/barrel in London, while the euro is down 0.1% against the greenback, at around $1.0885/E.
Bitcoin is also down (-2.7%), breaking through the 42,000 support level at $40,550.

La Française des Jeux (FDJ) climbs +5% after reporting recurring EBITDA of €675 million for 2023, i.e. a margin of 25.1% on sales of €2.62 billion, up 6.5% (+2.8% on a like-for-like basis).

Crédit Agricole announces the acquisition of a 7% minority stake in Worldline, continuing the strategic partnership between the two groups, for which the signature of a binding agreement was announced in July 2023.

Finally, S.T. Dupont today announces the launch of a capital increase with preferential subscription rights to raise 25 million euros, to be paid up either in cash or by offsetting debts.


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