PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets are moving without much conviction on Tuesday morning in a context of wait-and-see before the publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and the search for new catalysts.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.14% to 7,237.00 points around 08:40 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.22%, while in Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.08%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index fell by 0.10%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 (-0.04%) and the Stoxx 600 (-0.05%) were practically stable.

Futures contracts on Wall Street predict an opening without much change for the Dow Jones (-0.05%), the Standard & Poor’s 500 (-0.10%) and the Nasdaq (-0.06%) for the next day of a green session led by Microsoft, which managed to attract several executives from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could once again drive discussions on Wall Street with Nvidia, the last of the new technology giants in the United States to publish its quarterly results.

Before that, investors will have read at 7:00 p.m. GMT the minutes of the Fed meeting of October 31 and November 1, which could provide elements on the debates within the American central bank while some traders are beginning to estimate that the first rate cut in the United States could occur as early as March 2024, according to the CME group’s Fedwatch barometer.

In Europe, where a rate cut is expected from April, the PMI activity indices scheduled for Thursday will be worth watching.

In terms of values, car manufacturers Renault (-0.95%), Stellantis (-0.40%), Volkswagen (-0.57%), Mercedes (-0.44%), BMW (-0.93%) react negatively despite the announcement of a 14.6% jump in new car sales in October in the European Union. Stellantis has also announced that it is considering a gigafactory of LFP batteries in Europe as part of a joint venture with the Chinese CATL.

In Paris, LVMH lost 1.14% in reaction to the lowering of UBS’s recommendation to “neutral” from “buy”.

In Milan, Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena (MPS) fell by almost 5% after the announcement by Rome of the sale of a 25% stake in the Italian bank with a view to its reprivatization.

In Frankfurt, the defense group Rheinmetall gained 2.69% following the presentation of its 2026 strategic plan, which notably forecasts a turnover of 13-14 billion euros by this deadline.

In London, the action of the British distributor of consumer electronics products AO World is volatile, showing -2.40% after having gained up to 1.8% at the opening thanks to the increase in its annual forecasts. , while in Zurich the Swiss hearing aid manufacturer Sonova jumped 6.63% after its results and outlook.

On a sectoral level, the banking sector lost 0.51%, while the energy sector gained 0.23%.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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