At the final gong, the Paris stock market's decline stalled below 7000 pts, at exactly 6997 pts (-1.01%), a level not visited since March 2023.

The Paris index suffered in particular from declines by Renault (-5.9%), URW (-4%) and Worldline (-3.8%), and had to contend with intense tensions on the bond front, where the German bund (10-year) hovered around 2.95%, French OATs around 3.52% and US T-Bonds around 4.79%, a level not seen for over 15 years.

Investors are thus being encouraged to move away from equities towards bonds and their attractive yields.

It should also be noted that last weekend's last-minute agreement to avert a shutdown in Washington did not exactly thrill the markets.

At Deutsche Bank, while acknowledging that the agreement eliminated a tangible risk to the economy, we feel that it also potentially opened the door to further rate hikes.

Indeed, according to futures contracts, the probability of a hike at the next FOMC meeting in November has risen from 19% on Friday to 28% on Monday, while that of a hike in December has risen from 39% to 51%, points out the German bank.

Against this gloomy backdrop, the price of a barrel of Brent crude breached the $91 mark (+1%), while the euro remained weak against the greenback, at $1.045/EUR. As a sign of market fever, the VIX or "fear index", which reflects the volatility of the S&P500, soared by 14% to reach 20.

In other French news, TotalEnergies and Borealis announce the start-up of their new Borstar® polyethylene unit. With a capacity of 625,000 tonnes per year, this new unit will double the current production of their Baystar joint venture at the Bayport site in Texas.

Carmila has announced a bond issue of 500 million euros maturing in October 2028, with an oversubscription rate of 2.2 times, aimed in particular at financing the acquisition of Galimmo.

Kaufman & Broad reported net income (Group share) of 45.5 million euros for the first nine months of its 2023 financial year, compared with 31.9 million for the same period in 2022, as well as a 0.8 point improvement in its operating income recurring (OIR) rate to 8%.

Alstom presented its hydrogen-powered Coradia Stream train. It is due to enter commercial service in Italy in the Val Camonica between late 2024 and early 2025, on the non-electrified Brescia-Iseo-Edolo line.

Finally, Safran Electrical & Power announces that it has completed the acquisition of Thales's aeronautical electrical systems business, which covers conversion, power generation and electric motors for civil and military aircraft.

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