The Paris Bourse is set to open lower on Thursday morning, awaiting the announcement of the first US growth figures for the first quarter.

At around 8.15am, the 'future' contract on the CAC 40 index - April delivery - dropped 22.5 points to 8024 points, heralding a start to the session in negative territory.

The 2.30pm publication of US GDP will be closely followed in the run-up to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, scheduled for next week.

Consensus forecasts are for growth of around 2.5% annualized, following a 3.4% gain in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Pending the release of the US GDP, disappointing forecasts from Meta Platforms are likely to weigh on the trend, jeopardizing the recent surge of optimism that had surrounded the technology compartment

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram published online quarterly results on Wednesday evening, but unveiled lower-than-expected forecasts, sending its stock plunging 16% in electronic trading.

Heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft, which will publish their financial statements later in the evening, are also expected to fall when Wall Street opens.

The stock market is also animated by numerous earnings releases in Paris and the rest of Europe, with announcements from leading groups such as Hermès, Pernod Ricard, Sanofi, Schneider and Unilever.

In addition to the concerns raised by Meta's disappointing outlook, STMicroelectronics also performed poorly this morning, reporting weaker-than-expected figures for the quarter and forecasting a 26% drop in second-quarter sales.

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