Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse was showing optimism at midday on Thursday (+ 0.28%), helped by de-escalation in the Middle East and a rebound in German industrial production pending the close signing of a trade agreement partial between Beijing and Washington.

At 13.34 (12.34 GMT), the CAC 40 index gained 17.06 points to 6.048.06 points in a trading volume of 1.1 billion euros. The day before, it had ended up slightly (+ 0.31%).

The Parisian rating has remained in positive territory since the opening.

Wall Street was preparing to open up. The futures contract on the flagship Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.38%, that on the broad S&P 500 index 0.36% and that on the highly technological Nasdaq 0.53%.

On the one hand, "the strongest of tensions between the United States and Iran appear, at least for the moment, put behind," comments Hervé Goulletquer deputy director of research at La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM).

On the other hand, "the markets have heard what they needed to hear and are ready to turn their attention to the signing of the phase one trade agreement between the United States and China", observes for his shares Jasper Lawler, analyst for London Capital Group. "Investors hope that the deal, which is expected to be signed next week, will remove the biggest source of economic uncertainty, and pave the way for the resumption of investment this year."

China's Commerce Ministry has confirmed that Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington from January 13 to 15 to sign the preliminary agreement, which was seen as a truce in the China-US trade war that has weakened investor confidence and weighed heavily on economic growth.

The World Bank on Thursday revised down its growth forecasts for 2019 (to 2.4%) and 2020 (to 2.5%). Growth would thus be much lower this year than that recorded in 2017 (+ 3.2%) before the outbreak of the Sino-American trade war and that of 2018 when it was still 3%.

"From now on, the rest will depend on the ability of economic indicators to rebound while taking advantage of the reliefs at the end of 2019", whether it is the easing in Sino-American trade tensions or the advance on Brexit, notes Franklin Pichard, managing director from Kiplink Finance.

- Sodexo blamed -

In this regard, Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney said Thursday foresee a "reduction" of the uncertainties related to Brexit since the elections of December, which conferred an overwhelming majority to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while warning that an economic rebound "is not guaranteed". British MPs are due to give the green light to Brexit on January 31.

German industrial production rebounded in November (+ 1.1%) while a fall in exports weighed on the trade surplus, painting a mixed picture of a leading European economy still in slow motion.

At the bottom of the CAC 40, Sodexo lost 5.17% to 101.70 points due in particular to the drop in its activity in North America, an area accounting for around 45% of its turnover.

On the other hand, on the SBF 120, Air France-KLM climbed 4.39% to 9.85 euros, driven by the increase in its passenger traffic (+ 0.8%) in December compared to the same month of 2018.

DBV Technologies jumped 21.41% to 24.50 euros, supported by "positive" results from a long-term study on its flagship product against peanut allergy Viaskin Peanut.

LDC increased by 1.40% to 108.50 euros thanks to the 6.8% increase to 1.1 billion euros in poultry sales in the third quarter of its 2019-2020 fiscal year.

© 2020 AFP