by Diana Mandia

(Reuters) – Wall Street is expected to rise and the European stock markets fell slightly on Friday at mid-session, after having briefly increased in the morning thanks to signs of commercial calm, investors now turning to a series of company results and awaiting inflation data in the United States. The day after a session driven by the easing of tensions between China and the United States, futures on New York indices signaled an opening up of 0.11% for the Dow Jones, 0.28% for the Standard & Poor’s-500 and 0.46% for the Nasdaq. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.52% to 8,183.36 points around 10:58 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.10% and in London, the FTSE 100 lost 0.11%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 0.19%, and the FTSEurofirst 300 and Stoxx 600 are both down 0.21%.

Caution is back despite signs of a thaw in Sino-US trade relations, initially welcomed, as the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump, who begins a tour of Asia on Friday, will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next Thursday, ahead of the November 1 deadline for imposing new 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.

But investors are also looking to other events and want to take profits after the previous day’s gains, which saw the STOXX 600 close at a record high, which explains the gloomy tone on European stock markets mid-session, says Fiona Cincotta, market analyst at City Index.

“This seems like a bit of caution ahead of the US data release and some profit taking heading into the weekend,” she said.

Across the Atlantic, monthly consumer price figures (CPI) are expected at 12:30 GMT, a publication delayed, like many other American indicators, due to the “shutdown”, which reduced the visibility of the American central bank before its monetary policy decision scheduled for next week.

A new avalanche of company results is also to be analyzed, as is preliminary Purchasing Managers (PMI) data, which showed that economic activity in the eurozone grew faster than expected in October, with companies receiving new orders at the strongest pace in two and a half years.

In France, however, private sector activity fell more quickly than expected this month, as demand for goods and services in the euro zone’s second-largest economy further weakened in a context of political crisis.

The deputies also begin this Friday at 1:00 p.m. GMT the examination of the revenue part of the 2026 budget in the National Assembly, where the debates promise to be heated while the Socialist Party (PS) once again brandishes the threat of censorship from the government of Sébastien Lecornu.

The Moody’s agency must also rule this evening on France’s sovereign rating, a week after S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit rating and a month after a similar measure by Fitch. VALUES TO FOLLOW AT WALL STREET [L8N3W50QF]

VALUES IN EUROPE Accor climbs 5.66% after reporting “reassuring” third quarter results on Thursday evening, with analysts also highlighting the increase in the annual operating profit target.

Mersen, which lowered its outlook for 2025 on Thursday, citing in particular the low level of sales expected for the solar market, plunged more than 17% mid-session, the bottom of the SBF 120 index.

Valeo advances by 8.53% after the publication of its quarterly turnover and the confirmation of its annual objectives.

Elsewhere in Europe, Signify fell 4.5% after the Dutch lighting specialist posted a bigger-than-expected fall in third-quarter sales and lowered its full-year forecast, citing falling demand from commercial and public sector customers in the United States.

Saab climbs 6.12% after reporting a 16% increase in its quarterly operating profit.

The European technology compartment progressed by 0.41%, in the wake of the American group Intel, whose quarterly profit exceeded expectations thanks to spectacular cost reduction measures.

RATE

Euro zone government bond yields rose on Friday as better-than-expected preliminary PMIs prompted investors to slightly reduce their bets on a European Central Bank (ECB) rate cut next year. In Germany, the ten-year Bund yield rose 3.6 basis points to 2.6137%. That of its two-year counterpart, the most sensitive to rate expectations, rose 4.1 basis points to 1.9747%.

In France, where the political situation remains uncertain, the yield on the ten-year OAT gained 4.5 basis points to 3.4224%, and its yield gap compared to the German Bund of the same maturity exceeded 80 basis points again this Friday.

EXCHANGES The dollar advances 0.07% against a basket of reference currencies, and is heading towards a weekly gain as investors await US inflation figures.

The euro fell 0.03% to 1.1613 dollars.

OIL

Oil prices are stabilizing after Thursday’s sharp rise as U.S. sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies sparked concerns over supplies.

Brent gained 0.09% to $66.05 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 0.05% to $61.82.

Both oil benchmarks are expected to post a weekly gain of around 7%, the biggest since mid-June.

MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS ON THE AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 24:

COUNTRY GMT INDICATOR PERIOD PREVIOUS CONSENSUS

USA 12:30 CPI inflation September

– over one month +0.4% +0.4%

– over one year +3.1% +2.9%

CPI “core” inflation September

– over one month +0.3% +0.3%

– over one year +3.1% +3.1%

(Some data may have a slight lag)

(Writing by Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)

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