The Paris Bourse gained nearly 1% this morning, around the 7,235-point mark, helped by TotalEnergies (+2.1%), EssilorLuxottica (+2%) and Engie (+1.9%).

The fourth week of August will be marked on Thursday by the traditional end-of-summer Jackson Hole meeting of the world's leading central bankers, who will meet against a backdrop of questions about the evolution of monetary policies.

This meeting, always closely followed by the markets, will conclude with a speech by Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Investors are hoping for an improvement in general sentiment, which would enable them to break out of the current phase of risk aversion that is shaking the markets.

'The enthusiasm that surrounded the resilience of the economy, the moderation of inflation and the emergence of artificial intelligence has not disappeared, but it has been obscured by worries about global growth and the recent rise in interest rates', explains Craig Fehr, strategist at Edward Jones.

The unknown factor of inflation seems particularly likely to prompt central bankers to exercise caution.

Powell is likely to adopt a less nuanced stance at Jackson Hole in our view, given that the latest indicators clearly point to a risk of rising inflation", BofA's economists warn.

On the bond front, the yield on 10-year US government bonds hovered around 4.28%, just below last week's multi-year highs.

The yield on the 10-year German Bund, Europe's benchmark bond, also peaked at 2.63%, almost doubling over the past 12 months.

The week in Europe will also be punctuated by the publication, on Wednesday, of the results of the monthly purchasing managers' surveys (PMI) on private sector activity in the major European economies.

In French company news, Visiomed shares, whose trading had been suspended on Friday, gained nearly 17% this morning in Paris.

TotalEnergies announced that it had signed an agreement with INPEX to acquire PTTEP's 100% interest in the AC-RL7 permit in Australia, subject to approval by the relevant authorities.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield announced Friday evening that it had closed a new $925 million financing package for Westfield Century City, its shopping center in the heart of Los Angeles.

Finally, Saint-Gobain announced that it had obtained Competition Bureau clearance for the acquisition of Building Products of Canada, a producer of residential roofing shingles and wood-fiber insulation board in Canada.

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