The Paris stock market's contraction continues today: after dropping 0.6% yesterday, the Paris index is down a further 0.6% this morning, around 8140 points, penalized by Legrand (-2.6%), Schneider Electric and Teleperformance (-2%).

Profit-taking has multiplied since yesterday, as a week marked by relief over US inflation draws to a close.

The index's recent gains over the past few weeks are prompting profit-taking, a trend reversal accentuated by the blocking effect of the 8250-point resistance level.

Since the beginning of the year, this threshold has systematically represented an important management point, synonymous with at least partial profit-taking, which has prevented a rally to the psychological 8500-point threshold.

In another sign of caution on the part of market participants, Wall Street turned downwards last night (-0.1%) after breaking through the 40,000-point barrier for the first time in its history.000 mark for the first time in history, thanks to Walmart's strong results.

After May's sharp rise, investors are all the more tempted to play it safe, as next week will see Nvidia's quarterly results.

Analysts are expecting better-than-expected performances from the processor manufacturer and an increase in its annual targets, as is the Californian group's wont.

Good news would undeniably confirm the positive direction of technology stocks, particularly those focused on artificial intelligence.

One of the most striking effects of this week's worse-than-expected inflation figures was the fall in US Treasury yields, in anticipation of increasingly likely monetary easing in the US.

The 10-year yield on Treasuries climbed back a little above 4.39%, after falling yesterday to 4.32%, the lowest in over a month.

While inflation data in the Eurozone remains far less vigorous than in the US, European yields reacted 'out of sympathy' by also falling back, before stabilizing.

The yield on the German 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the entire eurozone, thus stood at 2.48%.

On the indicators front, investors will be watching this afternoon for the publication of the Conference Board's index of leading indicators, expected to fall by 0.3% in April.

They will also be keeping a close eye on the final eurozone inflation figures for April, due at 11:00 a.m., which will reveal whether price trends in the services sector point to an ECB rate cut in June, the scenario currently favored by the markets.

Meanwhile, investors have learned that in the first quarter of 2024, the number of unemployed in France (excluding Mayotte) as defined by the International Labor Office (ILO) rose very slightly, by 6.
,000, compared with the previous quarter, to 2.3 million people, according to Insee.

In other French company news, Eiffage and Entech announce an agreement to create a joint venture dedicated to the design and integration of storage systems, the construction of substations for connection to the high-voltage grid, control tools and battery security.

Vinci announces that traffic on its motorway concessions fell by 1.5% in April 2024 year-on-year, a 2.8% drop for light vehicles having been partly offset by a 6.7% increase for heavy goods vehicles.

Lastly, Clariane has announced that it will be carrying out capital increases for a total maximum amount of around 328 million euros, welcoming, alongside Crédit Agricole Assurances, Groupe HLD Europe as a new reference shareholder.

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