The CAC40 ended the session with a gain of 0.69%, at 8187 points, marking a fifth consecutive session of gains with the help of Carrefour (+2.3%), Legrand and Stellantis (+2.1% each).

The Paris index has gained nearly 3.5% over the last five sessions.

On this Ascension Thursday, volumes were logically limited, with less than 2.2 billion euros traded throughout the session.

Across the Rhine, the session will be remembered for the DAX (+1%), which smashed a new all-time record despite Mercedes' setback (-5.5%).

While the last few sessions have been punctuated by the publication of numerous quarterly corporate results, JPMorgan reports that 78% of companies did better than expected in the USA, while 56% exceeded expectations in Europe, a performance above the usual average.

Despite the positive surprises that characterized US corporate accounts, stock market reaction remained lacklustre, as better-than-expected publications were greeted, on the whole, by nil scores, while disappointments were punished more harshly than usual", observes the New York bank.

At midday today, the Bank of England (BoE) left its key rate unchanged, as expected. However, the bank said it 'expects to cut rates in the next few months or quarters'.
The BoE expects inflation to rise from 2.8% to 2.6% in the UK in 2024.

British Gilts are not benefiting from this, and their yields have risen by +5pts to 4.19%.
The trend in the Eurozone is not much brighter, with OATs +4pts to 3.003%, Bunds +4pts to 2.498% and Italian BTPs +5pts to 4.85%.
US 10-year T-Bonds are hovering around 4.48%.

The only statistic on the agenda today, the US Department of Labor announced that 231,000 new jobless claims were registered in the US in the week to April 29, up by 22,000 on the previous week, which was revised marginally upwards from 208,000 to 209,000.

The four-week moving average - more representative of the underlying trend - came out at 210,250, an anecdotal rise of 250 on the previous week.

The dollar is crumbling against the euro, which is up 0.2% at $1.077/E, while Brent crude oil is down 0.2% at $83.6/barrel in London.

In other French company news, EDF announced that, following the ASN's decision to authorize commissioning of the Flamanville EPR, its teams began loading the 241 fuel assemblies into the reactor vessel on May 8, a process which will last several days.

Renault announced this morning that Nissan's contribution to its own results was estimated at 225 million euros for the first quarter of 2024. The Losange is up nearly 1.8% this morning, the biggest gainer on the CAC.

Finally, Oddo BHF has reiterated its 'outperform' opinion and its target price of 24 euros on Alstom, the day after the publication of annual results accompanied by the presentation of measures to strengthen the balance sheet, including a capital increase.

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