CAC 40 Steady as STMicroElectronics Soars on Major Order

STMicroElectronics

French stocks are exhibiting a varied performance on Monday as investors anticipate new directional signals. Market participants are meticulously monitoring the progress of discussions between the United States and Iran. Reports indicate that both parties have consented to persist in negotiations aimed at alleviating tensions and circumventing military confrontation. Data indicating a notable robustness in Eurozone investor confidence in February bolstered sentiment.

The benchmark CAC 40, having declined to 8,258.75 after reaching a high of 8,312.64 earlier, was recently recorded at 8,273.08, reflecting a slight decrease from the previous close. STMicroElectronics experienced a 6.7% increase following the announcement of a multibillion-dollar agreement with Amazon.com’s cloud-computing division, signifying a significant advancement for the European semiconductor manufacturer in providing chips for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

  • Thales experienced an increase of approximately 2.5%, while Euronext saw a rise of 2%.
  • Societe Generale, Kering, Dassault Systemes, Danone, Renault, Credit Agricole, Publicis Groupe, and Schneider Electric experienced an increase ranging from 0.4% to 1%.
  • Vinci experienced a decline of 1.7%, while ArcelorMittal saw a decrease of 1.4%.
  • Eurofins Scientific, Eiffage, Air Liquide, BNP Paribas, Bouygues, Airbus, AXA, Orange, and LVMH experienced declines ranging from 0.5% to 1%.

The investor confidence index increased to 4.2 in February, up from -1.8 in January. This marked the peak since July 2025 and surpassed the anticipated figure of -0.2. Furthermore, this marks the third consecutive increase in the index. The think tank indicated that the economic indices suggested a potential improvement for the Eurozone economy. Sentix indicated that the recession in the currency bloc is likely to have concluded, paving the way for an emerging economic recovery scenario.

The current situation index improved to -6.8 in February, marking the highest level since April 2023, up from -13.0 in January. Concurrently, the expectations index experienced a notable increase, reaching a seven-month peak of 15.8, up from 10.0 in the previous month.