The Paris stock market was stable this morning at around 7935 points, despite broad market movements including +6.9% for Bouygues, +3% for Alstom, -11.2% for Eurofins Scientific and -3.8% for Edenred.

Investors are bracing themselves for a less clear-cut session, with concerns about valuation levels adding to questions about US inflation and interest rates.

Since their last record highs, equity markets seem to be looking for direction, a breath of fresh air that is hardly surprising after several weeks of gains.

Despite a promising start to the session, Wall Street ended in the red on Monday evening, with buying relays now scarcer after last week's Nvidia hurricane.

If strategists are to be believed, the high valuations achieved by equities are increasingly arguing for a pause.

The uptrend that has been underway since the start of the year is putting increasing pressure on fundamentals to justify the high valuations", say Citi analysts.

In this sense, Thursday's release of the PCE index of consumer spending excluding food and energy, the Federal Reserve's preferred indicator for gauging inflation, will act as a test.

On the bond market, the stock market pause does not favor a return to Treasuries, with the US ten-year yield hovering around 4.27%.

The euro remains stable against the greenback, at $1.08/euro.

Brent crude is stable at around $82.4/barrel.

In French corporate news, conglomerate Bouygues reports net income, group share of 1.04 billion euros for 2023, compared with 973 million the previous year, and recurring operating income from ordinary activities (ROCA) up 19% to 2.41 billion.

Orange and BNP Paribas announce that they have concluded their exclusive negotiations begun in June 2023, with the signing of agreements materializing their collaboration, including a referencing agreement concerning Orange Bank's customer portfolio in France.

Eurofins Scientific reports adjusted net profit of €568 million for the past year, or €2.71 per share, and adjusted EBITDA down 9.9% to €1.36 billion, at the upper end of its target range of €1.32-1.37 billion.

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