After dropping 0.9% yesterday, the Paris index remains in the red today: at the final gong, the Paris Bourse is down 1.52%, with 37 of the 40 CAC stocks in the red.

Against this backdrop, only Renault (and to a lesser extent Michelin) came out on top, with the Losange gaining 3.2% ahead of the Bibendum (+0.3%). Thales completed the podium with an anecdotal +0.03%.

With -4.3%, Edenred was the session's red lantern, while the contraction of the luxury goods sector did not go unnoticed, with -2.8% for LVMH, -2.3% for Kering and -1.5% for Hermes.

Losses widened sharply after 2 p.m. with the publication of the first German inflation figures for May, which came in at +2.8% year-on-year after +2.4% in April (the consensus was for +2.6% to +2.7%).

The German CPI suffers from an unfavorable basis of comparison, as prices had fallen in the same period last year due to a voluntary reduction in public transport fares.
The CPI core consumer price index over one year stands at 3%.

Stakeholders will have to wait until the end of the week to learn about price trends in Europe, with Spanish figures tomorrow, followed by French and eurozone data on Friday.

All these figures will be decisive in confirming the hypothesis of a rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) as early as next week.

Markets will also be on the lookout on Friday for US PCE inflation data, the Federal Reserve's favorite indicator of price dynamics, which is expected to fall slightly.

Against this backdrop, the yield on 10-year US Treasuries has risen by +7pts to over 4.61%, supporting the dollar, which has recovered +0.45% towards $1.0812/euro.
The rise in interest rates only marginally penalized gold, with an ounce down -0.5% at $2,340.

In French company news, Exail Technologies announced that it had signed its first partnership with Safran for WIZY-WAP, its latest-generation on-board communications equipment, a partnership which should eventually generate annual sales of several million euros.

Safran also announced that its innovations had been recognized with a Crystal Cabin Award in the 'Cabin systems' category for the 'CUBE' developed by Safran Cabin.

Bouygues Telecom says it has been informed by SFR and La Poste of the differences between them concerning its planned acquisition of the virtual operator La Poste Telecom, currently jointly owned by La Poste and SFR.

On Wednesday, Air France announced that it was conducting more than 80 projects involving the use of generative artificial intelligence in all its businesses.

Finally, Renault (+3.2%, and almost +11% in five sessions) is benefiting from Goldman Sachs' analyst, who raised his recommendation on the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', with a price target raised from 51 to 70 euros. According to his calculations, Renault could generate around 5.4 billion euros in free cash flow (FCF) over the 2024/2025 period, bringing its net cash position to over 8.3 billion.

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