Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse limited any initiative Thursday at midday (-0.03%), pending the release and the press conference of the European Central Bank, which it expects a set of economic stimulus measures.

At 13:25 (1125 GMT), the CAC 40 index yielded 1.58 points to 5.616.48 points, in a trade volume of 936 million euros. The day before, he had finished up 0.44%.

The Parisian rating started up before settling in balance, pending the verdict of the ECB.

Wall Street was preparing for its part to start up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index futures contract was 0.19%, the broad-based S & P 500 index gained 0.12% and the Nasdaq futures, high tech, 0.34%.

"Markets are a little sluggish this morning as investors await the decision of the ECB at 13:45 (11:45 GMT) and the press conference that will follow at 14:30 (12:30 GMT)," summarized in a note David Madden, an analyst from CMC Markets.

"Market operators seem to be riding their positions upstream of these announcements, with some worried that the ECB may not be sufficiently accommodative" to the taste of the market, he added.

"Everything is possible on this day of the meeting of the ECB.The analysts are very divided on the announcements that could make Mario Draghi concerning the following aspects: deposit rate, QE and tiering," said his side Christopher Dembik, head of economic research at Saxo Bank.

Interest rate cuts, new public and private debt buybacks ("QE" for "quantitative easing"), tapering rate system and giant loans to ease the bank ("tiering"): the Frankfurt Institute could indeed announce four measures simultaneously, a "package" watched all summer by the financial markets.

Earlier in the session, the Asian markets had benefited from new signs of relaxation on the Sino-US trade front.

Last sign of goodwill, China said Thursday to study the possibility of buying more US agricultural products - dear to Donald Trump - before the high-level bilateral trade negotiations to be held in October in Washington.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced fierce criticism Thursday after the publication of a government file that a Brexit without agreement could cause disorders and shortages of drugs and food.

And the calls multiplied for a reminder of the Parliament, suspended at its initiative until October 14, just two weeks before the date scheduled for the exit of the European Union.

As for the indicators, the August inflation figures are in the spotlight: in France, the rise in consumer prices finally dropped to 1.0% last month over one year, due to the decline in prices of manufactured goods.

The inflation rate in Germany also slowed down, to 1.4% in August year on year after 1.7% in July, moving away from the target of the European Central Bank.

These same data are also on the menu in the United States.

- Ruby shaped -

In the field of securities, Rubis rose 3.96% to 53.85 euros, benefiting from higher results in the first half, driven by recent acquisitions and all its main activities.

Alstom lost however 5.26% to 37.31 euros after Bouygues (+ 0.03% to 35.01 euros) announced Thursday to have sold a 13% stake in Alstom at 37 euros per share, a total of 1.079 billion euros, with the construction and telecoms group accounting for 14.7% of the railway manufacturer.

Accor was penalized (-2.83% to 38.42 euros) by lowering its recommendation to "underweight" against "overweight" previously by JPMorgan.

Rémy Cointreau was grappling 0.19% to 134.90 euros, the group announced Wednesday the arrival of Eric Vallat to the position of general manager, replacing Valérie Chapoulaud-Floquet leaving the group of spirits for personal reasons.

Haulotte retreated 4.28% to 6.71 euros, weighted by a 4.2% drop in net income in the first half, mainly due to a high basis of comparison, even though sales and current operating profit were up sharply.

© 2019 AFP