European equity markets should hesitate ahead of the ECB's announcements. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,220.88 points (-0.07%), the CAC 40 at 6,753.52 points (-0.19%), the DAX 40 at 15,705.81 points (-0.33% ), the FTSE 100 at 7,253.27 points (-0.33%), the SMI at 12,087.45 points (-0.49%), the AEX at 815.29 points (-0.20%), the BEL 20 at 4,210.42 points (-0.25%), IBEX 35 at 8,972.30 points (-0.33%), DJIA at 35,490.69 points (-0.74%), Nasdaq stable at 15,235.84 points, the S&P 500 at 4,551.68 points (-0.51%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,865.34 points (-0.80%).

Regarding exchange rates, the change from the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD opens at 1.1606 (+0.03%), EUR/JPY at 131.78 (-0.21%) and USD/JPY at 113.81 (-0.23%).

The results season is in full swing on Thursday in France, with the quarterly accounts of Sanofi, Airbus, TotalEnergies, STMicroelectronics, Solvay, Ubisoft Entertainment, Dassault Systèmes, Verallia, TF1, Europcar and Coface in particular. In addition, Stellantis, Valeo, Capgemini, Saint-Gobain, Lagardère, Eutelsat, Wendel, Korian, Gecina and GTT present their turnover for the quarter from July to September.

European equity markets are set to open close to balance on Thursday as investors absorb a fresh salvo of corporate earnings on both sides of the Atlantic and await the outcome of the monetary policy meeting in the European Central Bank (ECB). Around 7:30 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract gained 3 points, or 0.04%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The contract on the DAX 40 gained 5 points, or 0.03%, and that on the FTSE 100 gained 3 points, or 0.04%.

On Wednesday night, Wall Street ended mostly lower on Wednesday, deviating slightly from its recent highs. The Dow Jones index (DJIA) closed down 0.7%, at 35,490.69 points, hampered in particular by the decline in financial and oil stocks. The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.5% to 4,551.68 points. The Nasdaq Composite ended almost unchanged at 15,235.84 points, supported by Microsoft and Alphabet after their good quarterly results. Corporate results will remain under scrutiny on Thursday in the United States, with Apple and Amazon due to disclose their accounts after the market closes. In Asia, the main indices fell Thursday morning. At the end of the session, the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 1%. The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yielded 0.01%.

Yields on US Treasury bonds fell on Wednesday. The ten-year Treasury bill rate fluctuated between 1.5% and 1.6% for most of October as investors braced for a gradual reduction in Federal Reserve asset purchases (Fed ) and advancing their forecasts for the first interest rate hike amid accelerating inflation. At 7:30 a.m., the yield on the ten-year benchmark stock was at 1.558%.

The euro rose slightly against the dollar on Thursday morning, after the announcement on Wednesday of the first drop in durable goods orders in the United States since April. These data, "although coming from the manufacturing sector, illustrate the current themes of accelerating inflation in a broader sense", comments Matthew Eidinger, currency analyst at Cambridge Global Payments.

Oil contracts fell Thursday morning after the announcement of a rise in crude inventories in the United States last week. At 7:20 a.m., the December contract on Brent North Sea oil lost $1.50, evening 1.8%, to $83.08 a barrel. The contract of the same maturity on light sweet crude oil (WTI) listed on the Nymex yielded 1.36 dollars, or 1.7%, at 81.30 dollars a barrel.