The CAC 40 index reached 7,403.67 points around 15:45 p.m., beating its previous all-time high on March 6. In the meantime, it has been severely heckled by the crisis that has hit the banks, having even fallen below the threshold of 6,800 points on 20 March.

The CAC 40 then recovered nearly 9%. Since the beginning of the year, the index has gained more than 14%.

Among the companies in the index, bank shares did not recover the losses they recorded on the sidelines of the bankruptcy of the US bank Silicon Valley Bank and the takeover in extremis of Credit Suisse by its Swiss rival UBS.

Societe Generale shares remain at nearly 20% below their level at the beginning of March, with BNP Paribas remaining down 10% and Crédit Agricole's by 5%.

The banking crisis, if it has blown a wind of panic on the markets, makes central banks more sensitive to the economic risks of their monetary policy, investors hope.

They now believe that they will raise their key rates a little less than expected, the main tool to fight inflation by increasing the cost of credit in the economy.

If the European Central Bank (ECB) is rigid and still plans to raise its key rates, investors believe it is very likely that the US central bank (Fed) will make a final rate hike in May, before leaving them around 5%.

The latest data showing a slowdown in economic activity and a decline in job creation in the United States reinforce this hypothesis.

"The March inflation data expected this week will undoubtedly help to better weigh the possibility of a change of course as soon as" the next meeting of the Fed's monetary policy committee, according to economist Véronique RichesFlores, of the firm RichesFlores.

Inflation is slowing in the euro area and the United States, thanks in particular to the fall in energy prices for several months, but it is still very high, well above the Fed and ECB's 2% target.

Inflation "remains high and uncertainty about its evolution has increased", requiring "a robust strategy for the coming period", said ECB President Christine Lagarde at the end of March.

The risk of recession in the euro zone this year has receded somewhat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its spring economic forecast published on Tuesday.

© 2023 AFP