At the start of this week marked by central bank meetings, equities are expected to rise . Thus, the Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,199.16 points ( -0.22% ), the CAC 40 at 6,991.68 points ( -0.24% ), the DAX 40 at 15,623.31 points ( -0. 10% ), FTSE 100 at 7,291.78 points ( -0.40 % ), SMI at 12,607.73 points ( 0.00% ), AEX at 788.01 points ( -0.49% ), BEL 20 to 4,160.17 points ( -0.57% ), the IBEX 35 to 8,360.20 points ( -0.47% ), the DJIA to 35,970.99 points ( +0.60% ), the Nasdaq to 15,630 .60 points ( +0.73% ), the S&P 500 4,712.02 points +0.95% and the Nikkei 225 at 28,640.49 points ( +0.71%) . On the exchange rate side , the variation compared to the closing in New York indicates that the EUR/USD at 1.1299 ( -0.17% ), the EUR/JPY at 128.19 ( -0.17 %) .10 % ) and USD/JPY at 113.48 ( +0.08% ).

In France, Lagardère "took note" on Friday evening of Vivendi's intention to accelerate the acquisition of the stake in the Amber Capital fund and the launch of a takeover bid (OPA) on the balance of the capital of the distribution and media group. Lagardère's board of directors, which will meet on Friday, "will set up an ad hoc committee from among its members and then appoint, on the latter's proposal, an independent expert," the group said.

European equity markets are expected to open higher on Monday, at the dawn of a week which will be marked in particular by the monetary policy meetings of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB). At 7:45 am, the futures contract on the CAC 40 was up 38 points, or 0.5%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The contract on the DAX 40 gained 67 points, or 0.5% also, and that on the FTSE 100 gained 24 points, or 0.3%. The Fed will deliver its monetary policy decision on Wednesday evening. While inflation reached 6.8% over one year in November, its highest level since June 1982, investors anticipate an acceleration of "tapering", the process of gradual withdrawal of asset purchases. The Fed began cutting its purchases by $15 billion a month in November and could, some economists say, double that pace after its Tuesday-Wednesday meeting. Since the Fed has indicated that it will not raise its interest rates until the tapering is over, such an acceleration would allow it to bring forward the date on which the first hike could take place. Investors are also waiting to see how the central bank characterizes inflation. For its part, the ECB should announce that it will end, as planned, its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) next March. The Frankfurt institution is also expected to provide details on its intentions regarding its regular asset purchase program, or APP. Economists anticipate an increase in this program, currently amounting to 20 billion euros per month, in order to partially compensate for the cessation of the PEPP. They also believe that the ECB could modify the terms of this program in order to make it more flexible. Besides the Fed and ECB, the Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Swiss National Bank, Norges Bank and Bank of Turkey will also announce their monetary policy decisions this week.

The broader S&P 500 index rose 1% to 4,712.02 points, a new historic high. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% to 15,630.60 points. Over the week as a whole, the three indices gained 4%, 3.8% and 3.6% respectively. In Asia, the main stock indices are moving in the green on Monday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index ended up 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite advanced 0.4% at the end of the session and the Hang Seng, the flagship index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, gained 0.5%.

Yields on US Treasury bonds edged higher on Monday, after losing ground on Friday in response to news of a further acceleration in US inflation. Nonetheless, over the past week as a whole, the benchmark 10-year yield rose 0.145 percentage points to 1.487%, posting its strongest weekly gain since February as Covid-19 fears eased. while the markets wait for a further tightening of monetary policy across the Atlantic. The 30-year stock's yield had its biggest weekly rise since January, gaining 0.208 percentage points to 1.883% and ending a three-week run of declines.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro fell against the dollar on Monday morning, as attention turned to central bank meetings scheduled for this week. The CBA bank believes that the dollar can gain ground this week if the meeting of the Fed's monetary policy committee reinforces the restrictive turn recently initiated by its chairman, Jerome Powell.

Oil prices are rising on Monday morning and could be supported in the short term by easing concerns about the severity of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, says CBA. Oil contracts climbed on Friday, posting their biggest weekly gain in more than three months.