In the wake of a "3 Witches" session which saw the CAC40 set new all-time highs, the index is holding up little or nothing, down -0.2% to -0.3%, in almost non-existent volumes (0.5 billion euros at 1pm, 0.7 billion euros at 3pm), which comes as no surprise in the absence of American traders (celebrating Washington's Birthday).

French stocks barely reacted to Bruno Le Maire's comments on TF1's '20H' on Sunday.
This weekend, the French Finance Minister announced a downward revision of the country's growth forecasts for 2024, from 1.4% to 1% (as did the IMF, but the OECD expects no more than 0.6%, while the consensus of economists is for 0.8%).
As a result, the French government will have to make 'a further ten billion euros in savings'.
European stock markets are also down, but with only symbolic differences (-0.2% for the E-Stoxx50).

After the deluge of results, statistics and monetary decisions of recent weeks, the week ahead promises to be calmer than previous ones... but watch out for the release of Nvidia's quarterly results on Wednesday: expectations are stratospheric, and have already led to gains of +46% this year.
Any disappointment could result in heavy profit-taking, and would impact the semiconductor sector, which has been driving the S&P500 since autumn 2022.

In terms of US figures deemed important by Wall Street, we'll have to wait until Thursday to discover the preliminary results of S&P Global's surveys of private-sector purchasing managers (PMI).

The market will also take stock of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy with the release, on Wednesday evening, of the 'minutes' of the January meeting, which saw the Fed keep rates unchanged.

Expectations of a rate cut in the US have been sharply revised downwards recently in the wake of good figures on growth, employment and inflation.

Whereas at the beginning of the year, the market was expecting rates to fall by 175 to 200 basis points from March onwards, it is now expected that rates will fall by only 100 basis points, starting in June.

In Europe, the week is still relatively busy, with upcoming announcements from Air Liquide, Carrefour, Nestlé, Mercedes-Benz, AXA, Engie, Deutsche Telekom, Allianz and BASF.

Bond markets are slumbering in the absence of any catalyst, with OATs and Bunds off by +1Pt at 2.89% and 2.41% respectively, and UK Gilts tightening by +4Pts to 4.15%.
Calm on the currency front too, with the Euro eroding by -0.05% to $1.0770.

In news from French companies, Stef, the group specializing in cold logistics, reports that its Board of Directors has decided to cancel 150,000 treasury shares, representing 1.15% of the share capital, which had been acquired as part of a share buyback program.

Thales announces that its SurfSAT-L solution will provide satellite communication capabilities for the F126 frigates, the largest frigates in the German Navy's fleet, capable of operating at all latitudes.

Air Liquide announces that it is investing over 50 million euros to build an innovative new production unit in Singapore and to transform its current facilities in Malta, New York, in order to supply ultra-pure nitrogen to GlobalFoundries.

Veolia announces that, via its Hungarian subsidiary, it has signed an agreement with Uniper for the acquisition of a 430-megawatt power plant in Gönyu, northwest Hungary.


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