The Paris Bourse is stable at around 7540 points on a day marked by the expiration of futures contracts and options.

This morning, investors took note of the PMI figures for the eurozone. The HCOB flash composite PMI index of overall activity in the zone rebounded from 53.7 in March to 54.4 this month, signalling strong growth in the region's private sector activity, at its fastest pace for 11 months.

According to the surveyors, this upturn was underpinned by revived demand and accompanied by the strongest employment growth in almost a year, while inflationary pressures moderated further.

Less positively, growth has become increasingly unbalanced, driven only by the services sector, while manufacturing output has fallen back into contraction as demand for goods has plunged," they add.

At a time when the CAC is emerging from a vigorous rally, which saw it climb by almost 6% over the past month, investors seem to be beginning to yearn for a break.

On Wall Street, the US markets also ended in the red yesterday, as economic indicators and company results reinforced the scenario of a coming recession.

While analysts see few negative technical signals in the short term, the markets seem to be looking for elements likely to take them to a new level.

'The panorama is not entirely free of bearish risks', say the economists at Oddo BHF.
For some weeks now, banking stress has been mounting, pointing to a further tightening of credit conditions", add their analysts.

"Monetary policy is restrictive, with no hope of easing in the short term", reiterates Oddo BHF.

Beyond macroeconomic concerns, the stock market continues to be animated by numerous corporate earnings releases.

In stock news, EssilorLuxottica yesterday announced consolidated sales of €6,151 million for Q1 2023, up 8.6% at constant exchange rates on Q1 2022 sales (+9.7% at current exchange rates).

Tarkett also published last night Q1 sales of 698.4 million euros, up +2.0% on Q1 2022, or -0.9% on an organic basis.

On Thursday, Fnac Darty announced Q1 2023 sales of €1,781 million, stable on a reported and like-for-like basis compared with Q1 2022.

Lastly, engineering company GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz) this morning posted first-quarter 2023 sales up 17.2% to €79.9 million, including new-build sales up 19% to €73.5 million.

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