The Paris Bourse trimmed its gains a little, to +0.7% at 7,665pts.

At around 3:45pm, the CAC40 climbed +1% to 7,685 points, in the wake of luxury stocks: an all-time best close was on the horizon, above the 7,677 mark of January 30, but such a feat is uncertain with 30Mn to go.677 on January 30, but such a feat is becoming uncertain with 30 minutes to go.
The CAC40 continues to be pulled towards 7,700 by URW (+4.5%), Kering (+6%) and Stellantis (+2.8%).
The Euro-Stoxx50 (+0.7% to 4,710) smashed a new all-time high at 4,721Pts around 3:35pm... in the wake of Kering and Hermès (+2.5% and a new all-time high at 2,091E).

Investors are still digesting the shower of quarterly results at the start of the morning, including releases from ArcelorMittal (+4%), Crédit Agricole (RNPG of 6.04 billion euros), Kering, Publicis and Société Générale (37% rise in earnings to 2.5 billion euros).

In the early afternoon, the release of US jobless claims statistics confirmed the hypothesis of a "soft landing" for the US economy, with a further fall in claims: the Labor Department announced a drop of 9,000 claimants to 218,000.

The four-week moving average - more representative of the underlying trend - came in at 212,250 for the same week, up 3,750 on the previous week's revised average.

Finally, the number of people receiving regular benefits fell by 23,000 to 1,871,000 for the week ending January 22, the most recent period available for this statistic.

On Wall Street, the US indices seem to be marking time after yesterday's deluge of annual and absolute records: the Dow Jones is down 0.2%, while the S&P and Nasdaq are consolidating horizontally and look set to post their 14th of 15 weeks of gains (the longest bull run in 52 years).

Investors still seem convinced that a "Goldilocks"-type scenario is materializing, which is encouraging them to continue to turn to the equity markets.

Despite this, caution prevails in the bond markets, where investors are still digesting - with some difficulty - the latest statements by Jerome Powell and Neel Kashkari.

The Fed's two top dignitaries have pushed back the horizon for rate easing, with perhaps no more than two to three rate cuts envisaged in 2024, due to growth that remains singularly robust.

As a result, yields on US Treasury bonds are rising again (+6.6Pts), with the 10-year paper reaching 4.165%.

In Europe, the 10-year Bund, the zone's benchmark, is approaching 2.35% (+5pts), while our OATs are up 6pts at 2.87%.
Italian BTPs are up +10pts at 3.9280% and Gilts are +8pts at 4.085%.

Brent crude (+1.8%) has reached $80.8 a barrel, while the euro has lost 0.1% against the greenback, at $1.07650.

In French company news, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) gained more than 5% after reporting a 3.3% increase in adjusted recurring earnings per share (RNRAPA) for 2023 to 9.62 euros, ahead of forecasts, as well as EBITDA of 2.2 billion, up 6.7% on a like-for-like basis.

Crédit Agricole (-5%) announces that it will raise its 2023 dividend to 1.05 euros per share (+24% year-on-year, excluding 2019 catch-up) for underlying EPS up 6.5% to 1.80 euros over the past year, as well as stable underlying ROTE at 12.6%.

Société Générale reports a 36.6% increase in net income for 2023 to 2.49 billion euros and a 1.7-point improvement in ROTE to 4.2%, despite a 28.2% drop in gross operating income (GOI) to 6.58 billion.

ArcelorMittal (+4%) reported Group Ebitda, the indicator most closely followed by the market, of $1.27 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1.26 billion the previous year and well above the average analyst forecast of $1.2 billion.

Kering, parent company of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta, is forecasting recurring net income, group share, down 18% to 3.06 billion euros for 2023, with a recurring operating margin of 24.3%, down from 27.5% in 2022.

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