Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse was almost stable (+ 0.11%) at midday Wednesday, the day after an increase that brought it to the highest since June 2007, in an optimistic market but suspended from the minutes of the Central Bank American (Fed).

At 12:20 (10:20 GMT), the CAC 40 index took 7.20 points to 6,128.54 points.

The day before, it had gained 0.47%.

"The majority of (European) benchmarks are trading in lower volumes than usual, investors having put any decision on hold before the publication of the minutes of the FOMC (Fed Monetary Committee, editor's note) today" , explains Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.

The minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting will be released after European markets close.

Wall Street is also preparing to open close to breakeven.

In France, private sector activity finally stabilized in March after six months of continuous contraction, according to a final index from IHS Markit, while a first provisional estimate had indicated a slight contraction.

On the health front, thanks to the vigorous American vaccination campaign, California plans to reopen all its economic activities on June 15.

This contrasts sharply with the EU, where none of the 27 countries reached the goal of vaccinating 80% of people over 80 at the end of March, according to the European Commission.

While the United States will offer anti-Covid vaccination to all American adults from April 19, the slowness of vaccination in Europe is hampering the continent's economic recovery.

In France, a study estimates that 90% of adults should be vaccinated by September 1 to hope for a return to normal life, according to reports from researchers at the Institut Pasteur, Public Health France and of the Haute Autorité de Santé.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will hold a press conference this Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. GMT during which it will unveil the "conclusion of the examination of the red flag" launched on AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus and the formation of clots blood.

Investors will also take note of the US trade balance for the month of February.

The publication of US crude oil stocks is also scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, a "eagerly awaited" indicator that could cause "increased volatility" in "energy-related stocks", according to Pierre Veyret.

A virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bankers of the 20 richest countries in the world is also being held this Wednesday under the Italian presidency, with the coordination of stimulus measures, aid to poor countries and international taxation on the menu.

Reorganization plan at EDF

The EDF title jumped 10.33% to 12.38 euros, the day after a meeting during which the unions learned that the French state could buy the minority shares of EDF for an amount of 10 billion euros , representing 17% of the capital.

Air France takes off

The Air France title took 5.40% to 5.50 euros, the day after the announcement of a recapitalization plan.

On Wednesday morning, the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire indicated that this new aid provided to Air France by the French state will perhaps not be the last, given the situation in the aviation sector.

Societe Generale wants to sell a subsidiary

Société Générale bank (+ 1.08% to 22.90 euros) has entered into "exclusive negotiations" with the asset management group Amundi (+ 2.70% to 72.25 euros) in order to sell its subsidiary to it Lyxor, specializing in this activity, for 825 million euros.

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