After a record close of nearly 8,138 points on Wednesday evening, the CAC40 could start the session without a trend, given the more or less stable futures, against a backdrop of questions as to whether the bullish rally will continue.

No matter what news comes out, traders remain confident about the future", notes Christopher Dembik, at Pictet AM, warning however that "at some stage, a breather will be needed, at least to allow for profit-taking".

"A future bad company publication or a bad statistic could be the trigger. This will allow those who missed out on the bullish rally at the start of the year to get in", believes the professional.

Finally, let's not forget that once the key interest-rate cut begins, a priori in June, a large proportion of the capital invested in money-market instruments will move into equities in search of higher yields", he continues.

On the macroeconomic data front, traders will be taking note of US retail sales and industrial producer prices for February at midday.

In other stock news, in vitro diagnostics specialist bioMérieux reports a 21% decline in net income (group share) for 2023, but a 2% organic increase in operating income.

Investors will also be able to react to the annual results unveiled on Wednesday evening by steel distributor Jacquet Metals, contract logistics group ID Logistics and engineering firm Assystem.

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