The Paris stock market is making timid progress (+0.3 to +0.4%), but the CAC40 (8,180) is inching closer to the 8,200-pt mark with 48 hours to go before the end of the month and the 1st quarter.
Since January 1, the Paris index has risen by more than 8%.

"It's worth noting that the CAC40 is almost on a par with the S&P 500 in terms of performance", continues Christopher Dembik. That's rare enough to mention," concludes the strategist.
The CAC40, on the other hand, is clearly lagging behind the Euro-Stoxx50, which set a new record (+0.5% at 5,070) and has gained +12.2% since January 1.

From a tactical point of view, we may be witnessing a bit of quarterly balance sheet dressing this Tuesday, with managers getting rid of lame ducks (Orpéa, Atos, Euroapi) and bolstering their positions in the banking sector (in Paris) and the best-performing "technos" on the Nasdaq.

The CAC40 quickly recovered from Carrefour's initial fall (from -4.5% to -2%) thanks to BNP-Paribas +3% and Crédit Agricole +1.6%.
On Wall Street, the rise in the US indices partly erased the previous day's decline, with gains well spread out: Dow Jones +0.2%, S&P500 +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.4% (record close in sight if current levels are maintained).

Investors have just taken note of the Conference Board's durable goods orders and consumer confidence figures.
The latter deteriorated very slightly in March: the confidence index calculated by the employers' organization came to 104.7 this month, compared with 104.8 in February.

While the consumer sentiment component measuring the current situation improved to 151 from 147.6 last month, the expectations component fell sharply to 73.8 from 76.3 in February.

The Commerce Department reports US durable goods orders up 1.4% last month on the previous month, following a sequential drop of 6.9% in January (revised from an initial estimate of 6.1%).

However, excluding the usually erratic transportation sector, where orders rebounded by 3.3% in February, US durable goods orders rose by just 0.5% over the period.

Other important indicators will follow, such as the latest estimate of US fourth-quarter GDP due on Thursday, but the highlight of the week will be February's household income and spending statistics.

This publication, whose price component is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, will help refine forecasts for the Fed's forthcoming decisions.

In Europe this time, investors this morning took note of France's public deficit for the full year 2023. It stands at 154 billion euros, or 5.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), after 4.8% in 2022 and 6.6% in 2021, according to data released this morning by Insee.

Revenues rose by just 2% last year (after +7.4% in 2022), as the rate of compulsory deductions fell to 43.5% of GDP, while spending increased by 3.7% (after +4% in 2022).

The recent rise in indices has rekindled doubts among some investors as to the valuation levels of equities, which some analysts describe as 'overvalued' or even consistent with the formation of a 'bubble'.
Bond markets failed to recover what they had lost the previous day, with yields easing by -1Pt on Bunds and OATs, but symmetrically tightening by +2Pts on US T-Bonds to 4.2710%.
Brent crude oil was virtually unchanged at $86.5 a barrel in London, with the dollar also unchanged at 1.0835/E.

In other French company news, Air France-KLM has announced that, at the request of bondholders, it has redeemed around 452 million euros of the 500 million bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares (OCEANE) due March 25, 2026.

TotalEnergies announces that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) to jointly develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production unit at a SINOPEC refinery in China.

Edenred announces the signature of a partnership with IP Gruppo api, an Italian fuel and mobility solutions group, from which it will acquire its entire energy card business, with a portfolio of around 50,000 B2B customers.

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