The Paris stock exchange bounced to a new record high on Thursday as French companies post healthy earnings despite a slowing economy, a day after London also reached new heights. The CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent to 7,387.29 points in late morning trading, jumping over the previous record of 7,384.86 reached in 2022. The FTSE 100 in London broke through the 8,000-point mark on Wednesday, propelled by the sliding pound after data showed inflation slowed further in January. Stock markets were rocked last year by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring inflation, with Paris shedding a quarter of its value. But markets have rebounded as inflation slows in the United States and Europe, the energy crisis eases and countries release better-than-expected economic data. Investor sentiment has also been lifted by the end of China’s zero-Covid policy in December, which had held back the world’s second biggest economy.