The Paris stock market ended the day with a limited gain of 0.12%, at 7583 points, with good performances from Edenred (+1.6%) and Teleperformance (+1.4%) offset by declines from Renault (-1.5%) and Airbus (-1.4%) in particular.

On the statistics front, investors learned that US consumer confidence had risen much more strongly than expected in December, according to the results of the Conference Board's monthly survey.

In fact, the confidence index calculated by the employers' organization rebounded to 110.7 this month after 101 (revised) in November, whereas economists were on average forecasting a rise to 104.

On the real estate front, sales of older homes rose by 0.8% last month compared with October, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The median sales price reached $387,600, up 4% year-on-year, and the inventory of unsold existing homes fell by 1.7% month-on-month to 1.13 million at the end of November, or 3.5 months at the current rate of absorption.

Finally, data published by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) showed that US crude oil inventories stood at 443.7 million barrels for the week ending December 11, up 2.9 million barrels on the previous week.

On the bond front, 10-year T-Bonds fell to 3.91% (-4.5pts), while the ten-year German Bund, the eurozone's benchmark rate, was down -4pts at 1.972%.

Rate futures now incorporate a 69% probability of a rate cut following the Fed's meeting at the end of March, compared with 28% a month ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch barometer.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro lost 0.2% against the greenback, to $1.096.

On the commodities front, oil prices confirmed their recovery, as a growing number of attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels close to Iran on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade.

Brent crude oil is currently gaining nearly 1.4% to $80.4 a barrel in London.

In other French company news, Alstom announced today that it has launched its first digital experience center in Bangalore, India.
The company also reports that it has been chosen to supply the Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL) with new streetcars for the Ligne R and Ligne T tramway networks in Lille.

For its part, Orange Business announces the acquisition of Expertime, a services company specializing in Microsoft technologies, to contribute to its ambition to accelerate its growth in digital services and become the benchmark network and digital integrator in Europe.

Following the devaluation of more than 50% of the Argentine peso on December 13, Verallia warns that the impact of converting its local sales into euros will not enable it to achieve its annual growth target of at least 20% of its total sales in 2023.

Finally, Vergnet announced on Wednesday that it had set up an innovative €8 million financing package to support its development.

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