Stocks are expected to change little before the start of the earnings season in the United States. The Eurostoxx 50 opened at 3,831.47 points (-0.21%), the CAC 40  at  6,537.41 points (-0.28%), the DAX 40 at 14,124.95 points (-0.48%), the FTSE 100 at 7,576.66 points (-0.55%), the SMI at 12,378.87 points (-1.20%), the AEX  at 716.38 points (+0.23%), the IBEX 35 at 8,578.00 points (-0.08%), the DJIA at 34,220.36 points (-0.26%), the S&P 500 at 4,397.45 points (-0.34%) and the Nikkei 225 at 26,763.43 points (+1.63%).

As regarding exchange rates, the change from the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD opens at 1.0835   (+0.06%), EUR/JPY at 136.08 (+0.22%) and USD/JPY at 125.60   (+0.16%).

Investors will react on Tuesday to the Bank of France's latest forecast for the French economy. The institution now anticipates a slowdown in growth to 0.25% in the first quarter, while it previously bet on growth of 0.5% for this period. In the fourth quarter, France growth reached 0.7%. On the corporate side, the luxury group LVMH published Tuesday evening a sharp increase in turnover in the first quarter, but warned that the recent health restrictions in China could curb its sales in the coming weeks.

European stock markets are expected to open on a hesitant note on Wednesday, as investors await the results of JPMorgan bank, which will open the ball of first-quarter publications in the United States at midday, and react to the latest statements by central bankers Yanks. At 7:35 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract gained 20 points, or 0.3%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The CONTRACT on the DAX 40 was down 4.5 points, or 0.03%, and that on the FTSE 100 was down 1 point, or 0.01%. In March, core inflation came out at 0.3 percent from the previous month, after 0.5 percent in February, according to Labor Department figures. Over the past 12 months, however, prices excluding food and energy have risen by 6.5%, three times greater than the central bank's target of 2% per year on average.

Wall Street ended lower on Tuesday after the announcement of inflation at the highest in 40 years in the United States, which however gives hope for a beginning of price stabilization in the coming months. The Dow Jones Index (DJIA) lost 0.3% to 34,220.36 points. The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.3% to 4,397.45 points, and the Nasdaq Composite also closed down 0.3% to 13,371.57 points. In Asia, the main stock exchanges are trading in scattered order on Wednesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 1.6% at the end of the session, recovering after two consecutive sessions of decline. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Hang Seng Index was up 0.3 percent, but the Shanghai Composite was down 0.2 percent.

Benency and ten-year Treasury bond yields fell by the most on Tuesday in weeks as investors reacted to details of march's U.S. consumer price report, which suggest U.S. inflation may have peaked. On Wednesday morning, the rate on the ten-year Treasury bill, the market's benchmark, continued to fall, to 2.740% from 2.777% on Tuesday night.

The euro is trading slightly higher against the dollar on Wednesday, as market participants assimilate signs of slowing core inflation in the United States and easing some Covid-19 restrictions in China.

Oil prices are changing little Wednesday morning, after taking advantage overnight of the lifting of part of the health restrictions in the neighborhoods of the Chinese city of Shanghai where no Covid-19 infection has been reported in the last two weeks. At 7:25 a.m., the June Brent contract was down 3 cents to $104.61 a barrel, while the May contract for Nymex-listed light sweet crude (WTI) lost 14 cents to $100.46 a barrel.