European stock markets are expected to open globally on Thursday, as investors monitor the situation in the Middle East while waiting for a series of macroeconomic releases in the United States.

Emeis is holding its annual general meeting on Thursday.

The titles of restaurant ticket issuers Edenred and Pluxee will be monitored on Thursday while the Minister of Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises, Véronique Louwagie, will give a press conference at 8:15am on the reform of this payment method. Last week, the minister announced the sustainability of the use of meal vouchers in supermarkets as of January 1, 2027 and said she wanted to “arrive at a law as soon as possible”.

Around 7:40 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract grew by 0.3%, according to data from broker IG.

The Prime Minister, François Bayrou, will give a press conference on Thursday at 5 pm to present the results of his discussions over the last few days with the social partners on pensions. These discussions took place following the failure of the conclave on pensions signed by the social partners on Monday.

While the ceasefire between Israel and Iran is holding, two days after it came into force, European equity markets are generally expected to rise at the start of trading on Thursday. At around 7:40am, the DAX 40 futures contract in Frankfurt rose by 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in London was down 0.1%, according to data from broker IG.
At the end of the NATO summit in The Hague, American President Donald Trump indicated that negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program would take place next week.
The New York Stock Exchange ended in scattered order on Wednesday despite the new historical record reached by processor giant Nvidia, which pulled the technology compartment in its wake

In Asia, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 1.5% on Thursday at the end of trading. The Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.1%, while the Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lost

The Dow Jones Index closed down 0.3% to 42,982.43 points. The S&P 500 ended almost unchanged, at 6,092.16 points, while it was around 50 points from its record in February. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.3%, to 19,973.55 points, thanks to the jump in Nvidia shares (+4.3%), which took over from Microsoft (+0.4%) the largest American stock market capitalization stock.
During his speech before a Senate committee on Wednesday, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell reaffirmed his cautious position on cutting rates due to the uncertainties surrounding inflation, while the American economy does not seem to be derailing. However, he stressed that the end of uncertainty over tariffs and the announcement of agreements with US trading partners could “potentially” allow the Fed to consider reducing rates.
In recent weeks, the president has considered the possibility of choosing and announcing the replacement of Jerome Powell in September or October, the Wall Street Journal said in an article published after the close of Wall Street.

The two-year stock rate dropped 2 basis points to 3.77%. At around 7:40am, the 10-year US Treasury bond rate lost 1.7 basis points, to 4.28%

The August contract for soft light crude (WTI) listed on Nymex was worth 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $65.24 per barrel. Around 7:40 a.m., the August contract for North Sea Brent listed in London rose by 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $67.91