The Paris Bourse is currently up around 0.2%, at around 7050 points, driven in particular by Engie (+2%) and Veolia (+1.6%).

The Paris index is also benefiting from encouraging figures from the S&P Global PMI composite index of eurozone activity (flash estimate).

This rose for a third consecutive month in January, to 50.2 from 49.3 in December, thus climbing back above the 50 mark for no change.

The index thus signals modest growth in the eurozone's private sector, the first since June 2022, thanks to the services sector, whose index rose to 50.7, while manufacturing output (index up to 49) fell only slightly.

In France, the picture is a little more mixed. The PMI flash composite index of overall activity in France fell from 49.1 in December 2022 to 49 in January, signalling a third consecutive monthly decline in French private sector business activity.

The performance of manufacturers continued to weigh heavily on that of the economy as a whole, with a further decline in manufacturing output, while the services sector posted its biggest drop in activity since March 2021.

The fragility of demand continues to weigh on France's economic performance, with overall new business volume declining again in January", notes Joe Hayes, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Meanwhile, the US earnings season continues today with announcements from 3M, GE, Halliburton, Johnson & Johnson, Travelers and Verizon.

In news from French companies, Eurobio Scientific announced last night that it had recorded sales of 152.5 million euros in fiscal 2022, down 17% on 2021.

Israeli company CytoReason announced last night that it had signed a licensing agreement with Sanofi for the use of its artificial intelligence tools to discover new drugs.

Technip Energies announced that, as part of its long-term agreement with Aramco, it has won a contract to modernize the sulfur recovery infrastructure at Aramco's Riyadh refinery.

Finally, in a business update, Carmat announced that it expects to reach a production capacity of 500 prostheses in 2024 and 1,000 prostheses by 2027, as well as break-even within five years, in 2027.

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