The Paris Bourse ended the session down 0.72% at 7411 points, penalized by L'Oréal (-4.7%), EssilorLuxottica (-4%) and Teleperformance (-2.6%).

Volumes were particularly limited, with barely 2 billion euros traded since the opening, while Wall Street was closed today for Martin Luther King's Day.

On the bond front, 10-year OATs (2.733%) and Bunds (2.194%) fell by around 5 basis points, while the ECB seems very reluctant to let markets expect a rate cut before next autumn.

However, the US markets are currently banking on a 70% chance of a first easing in March, followed by two further cuts in May and June, expectations which some analysts consider too aggressive.

Only the next Federal Reserve meeting, scheduled for the end of the month, will provide some visibility on the future evolution of monetary policy.

In the meantime, investors will be keeping a close eye on quarterly corporate publications. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs will publish their accounts on Tuesday, followed by Alcoa the next day and SLB on Friday.

Fourth-quarter releases are particularly eagerly awaited, given the high valuation of the S&P 500, which is trading at 19.5 times expected earnings, compared with a ten-year average of 17.6 (and the 'Fantastic 7' have P/Es ranging from 29 to 80 times earnings).

On the statistics front, CVS (seasonally adjusted) industrial production fell by 0.3% in the Eurozone and 0.2% in the EU between October and November, according to Eurostat, following declines of 0.7% and 0.5% respectively between September and October.

In addition, the eurozone posted a trade surplus of 20.3 billion euros in its goods trade with the rest of the world in November, compared with a deficit of 13.8 billion euros a year earlier, according to a first estimate unveiled on Monday by Eurostat.

Finally, according to the Destatis institute, the German economy will contract by 0.3% in 2023 (first official GDP estimate) due to persistent inflation and rising interest rates.

In French company news, the European Commission approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of Germany-based Quadra Energy by France-based TotalEnergies.

ArcelorMittal announces the signature of a state-supported aid contract to accompany the decarbonization of the Dunkirk site.

Airbus announces that its Airbus Helicopters division has signed an agreement to acquire Aerovel and its unmanned aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor, to strengthen its portfolio of tactical unmanned solutions.

Finally, Solutions30 and Unsere Grüne Glasfaser (UGG), a joint venture between Allianz and Telefónica, launch a strategic partnership to deploy a FTTH fiber-optic network in Germany.

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