Europe's main stock markets were little changed on Wednesday morning, in a cautious mood ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and a number of macroeconomic indicators expected later in the day.

In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.20% to 7,948.54 points around 08:45 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.23% and in Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.11%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index gained 0.35%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.16% and the Stoxx 600 0.24%.

Wall Street futures are forecasting a rise of 0.19% for the Dow Jones, 0.30% for the Standard & Poor's 500 and 0.59% for the Nasdaq, following a session of sharp declines in technology stocks, including Apple.

At 3:00 pm GMT, investors are awaiting Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's hearing before members of the U.S. Congress, in the hope of finding out something about the trajectory of key interest rates, while the timetable for a cut in the cost of money has now been pushed back by the markets to June or even July.

The strength of the U.S. economy, as the ADP survey and the Jolts jobs report due later in the day may yet testify, is acting as a brake on immediate monetary easing.

Analysts at Citi noted on Tuesday "a much less favorable environment in which high inflation is increasingly likely to keep policy rates elevated until activity slows more sharply".

Announcements from the Bank of Canada (BoC) at 15:00 GMT, the first of the major central banks to make a monetary policy decision this month, could provide a first glimpse of the current debates.

As for economic indicators, the Fed's Beige Book will be published at 19:00 GMT, while in the Eurozone, retail sales are scheduled for 10:00 GMT.

On the stock market, the rebound in basic resources (+0.76%), penalized the previous day by the absence of major stimulus measures from Beijing at the opening of the annual session of the Chinese parliament, offered some support to the indices.

On the value side, Scor climbed 10.62%, posting the best performance of the SBF 120 on the back of higher fourth-quarter net income and the announcement of a dividend payment to shareholders.

Dassault Aviation was down 3.98% after reporting lower order intake and deliveries in 2023.



Elsewhere in Europe, DHL Group fell 4.71% after announcing lower-than-market forecasts for 2024, while Symrise (+4.05%), a manufacturer of flavors and fragrances, was buoyed by higher-than-expected operating profit for 2023. (Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)