This morning, the Paris index broke through a new record high, reaching 7908 points (+1.2%) for the first time in its history shortly after the opening.

The CAC40 has since given up some of its profits, but is still up 0.6% at around 7855 points, helped by STMicro (+3.7%) and AXA (+3.4%).

The trend was particularly buoyed by Nvidia's better-than-expected results, published last night, which reassured the markets.

"This was the most crucial moment for the technology sector and the market as a whole for several years", commented Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities.

It's a game-changing release for tech stock buyers, and fuels optimism that the sector's bullish rally will continue", he adds.

This favorable movement should benefit other semiconductor manufacturers, as well as the other 'Magnificent Seven', all of which are trending higher pre-opening on this good news.

Nvidia's performance has, at least for the time being, softened the cautious tone of the Fed's 'minutes', which confirmed last night that the central bank wanted to give itself time before cutting rates, something the market had already taken on board.

On the statistics front, the HCOB composite PMI for overall activity in France rose from 44.6 in January to 47.7 in February, a nine-month high that signals the smallest decline in private-sector activity in the current downturn.

Meanwhile, the HCOB composite PMI flash index of overall activity in the eurozone stood at 48.9 in February, compared with 47.9 in January, signalling a ninth consecutive monthly decline in private-sector activity, albeit the weakest since June 2023.

In the news from French companies, Danone reports a 3.4% increase in recurring EPS to 3.54 euros, boosted by a 40 basis point rise in recurring operating margin to 12.6% on net sales of over 27.6 billion euros.

Eramet reported an 85% drop in net income (group share) to 109 million euros, and a 59% drop in adjusted EBITDA to 772 million, on adjusted sales of 3.82 billion euros, down 26% organically on a negative price effect.

For 2023, Seb reports a 22% increase in net income to 386 million euros and a 1.3 point improvement in operating margin to 9.1%, on annual sales of 8.01 billion euros, up 5.3% at constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation.

Alongside the publication of its results, Seb announced plans to acquire the family-owned French group Sofilac, to strengthen its expertise in high-end cooking and thus pursue its growth in professional and semi-professional markets.

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