The Paris Bourse is likely to open without a clear trend on Wednesday morning, in a market that looks particularly flat on the Armistice Day bank holiday.

At around 8.15am, the CAC 40 futures contract was up just 1.5 points at 8068 points, suggesting that the session could start at around equilibrium.

After a difficult April (-2.7%), the Paris market has been back on track for the past week, helped by Wall Street's applause for the reassuring employment figures published last Friday.

The renewed appetite for risk triggered by the news does not seem to be waning for the time being, and the Paris market gained almost 1% again yesterday to 8075 points, lining up a third consecutive session of gains.

The star index is now just 1.6% off its all-time closing high of 8205 points, reached at the end of March.

The STOXX Europe 600 index reached a new all-time high last night.

In addition to the positive momentum seen in New York, mainly due to the enthusiasm surrounding large-cap technology stocks, investors now seem to be more positive about the economic situation in Europe.

Swiss asset manager Pictet AM announced yesterday that it had upgraded its recommendation on European equities from 'neutral' to 'overweight', as it considers them increasingly attractive.

In its view, the re-acceleration of activity on the Old Continent should enable companies to exceed consensus earnings forecasts this year.

Volumes are likely to remain limited this Wednesday, however, due to the absence of a number of French investors, as Victory Day 1945 is a public holiday in France.

Wall Street stalled on Tuesday evening after its sharp rise of the past few days, which had brought the Nasdaq close to its all-time record.

Among the few indicators on the agenda, German industrial production figures are expected to confirm the difficulties currently facing the sector.

In terms of results, Alstom announced a strong rebound in the second half of the year, with solid order intake, strong organic growth, improved profitability and free cash flow generation of 562 million euros.

Quarterly publications from European heavyweights such as AB InBev, Ahold Delhaize, BMW, Continental, Henkel, Puma and Siemens Energy will also be closely watched.

On the bond front, yields continue to ease in both the US and Europe, with the yield on 10-year US Treasuries returning to 4.46%, while the German Bund is stabilizing at around 2.42%

The oil market remains bearish, with US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) down 0.6% at $77.9 a barrel, pending the release of weekly US inventories in the afternoon.

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