After spending most of the session in bullish territory, and then slipping back into the red at 4 p.m., the Paris index finally ended the session at 6996 points, exactly where it closed the previous day (+0.00%).

This return to perfect equilibrium came at the end of a session punctuated by the release of a large number of statistical publications.

This morning, investors had taken note of the HCOB composite PMI index for overall activity in the eurozone. At 47.2 in September (slightly revised from a flash estimate of 47.1), it signaled a fourth consecutive monthly decline in the zone's private sector activity.

In August, compared with the previous month, industrial producer prices rose by 0.6% in the eurozone and 0.5% in the EU, according to Eurostat estimates, following declines in July of 0.5% in the eurozone and 0.7% in the EU respectively.

The volume of seasonally-adjusted retail sales fell by 1.2% in the eurozone and by 0.9% in the EU, compared with the previous month, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Down sharply from 46 in August to 44.1 in September, the HCOB PMI composite index of overall activity signals a further marked contraction in activity in the French private sector, the biggest since November 2020.

Across the Atlantic, the US private sector saw its activity virtually stagnate in September, according to S&P Global, whose composite PMI index came in at 50.2 for the month just ended (revised from 50.1 in flash estimates), the same level as in August.

The US private sector generated just 89,000 new jobs in September, its slowest pace since January 2021, according to the monthly survey published this Wednesday by ADP.

The Commerce Department also reported that, after a 2.1% decline in July, US industrial orders rose by 1.2% in August.

Finally, data published by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) showed that U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 414.1 million barrels for the week ending September 25, marking a decline of 2.2 million barrels on the previous week.

In other news, Air France-KLM announced an agreement with the Scandinavian airline SAS, in which the Group would acquire a stake of up to 19.9%, and with which it would enter into commercial cooperation.

Airbus reported that United Airlines had placed an order for 60 additional A321neo aircraft, supporting its 'United Next' initiative to integrate new aircraft into its fleet, and to standardize and improve its global network.

Sanofi announces a collaboration with Teva to co-develop and co-market TEV'574, currently in Phase IIb clinical trials for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, two inflammatory bowel diseases.

Thales reports that it has completed the acquisition - announced last June - of Tesserent, one of Australia and New Zealand's leading cybersecurity companies, following shareholder and other regulatory approvals.

Finally, Saft, the battery subsidiary of TotalEnergies, announces that it has delivered a battery energy storage system (BESS) to replace diesel backup generators at a sustainable Microsoft data center in Sweden.

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