CAC 40 Soars on Earnings Boost and U.S.-Iran Peace Hopes

Cac Futures Updates

French stocks experienced an upward movement on Wednesday, buoyed by robust earnings reports and optimism surrounding a potential U.S.-Iran peace agreement, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of a temporary halt to ‘Project Freedom’ to facilitate renewed negotiations with Iran. The CAC 40, having reached 8,280.71 earlier today, was up 191.36 points or 2.37% at 8,253.67 just a few moments ago.

  • ArcelorMittal experienced a significant increase of nearly 8.5%.
  • Safran experienced an increase of 6.5%, while Stellantis saw a rise of 6.3%. Societe Generale, Kering, BNP Paribas, and Saint Gobain experienced an increase of 5% to 6%.
  • AXA experienced an increase of 4.3%. The insurance giant disclosed first-quarter gross written premiums and other revenues amounting to 38.0 billion euros, reflecting a 3% increase from 37.0 billion euros in the corresponding period of the previous year, propelled by expansion in the Life & Health and Property & Casualty segments. On a comparable basis, premiums and other revenues increased by 6%.
  • Veolia Environnement experienced an increase of 1.1%. The company disclosed first quarter current EBIT of 971 million euros, reflecting a 7.2% increase compared to the previous year. EBITDA amounted to 1.77 billion euros, reflecting an organic growth rate of 5.1%. Revenue reached 11.43 billion euros, reflecting a 1.0% increase on a like-for-like basis, and a 2.1% rise when excluding the effects of energy prices.
  • Renault, Credit Agricole, Hermes International, Bouygues, Eiffage, LVMH, and Airbus experienced an increase of 4% to 5%.
  • EssilorLuxottica, Vinci, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Legrand, Eurofins Scientific, Dassault Systemes, L’Oreal, and Unibail Rodmco demonstrated robust performance with notable increases.
  • TotalEnergies experienced a decline of 3%. Euronext, Orange, and Sanofi saw slight decreases in value.

In economic news, the S&P Global France Composite PMI remained unchanged at 47.6 in April 2026, a decline from 48.8 in March. This marks the fourth consecutive month of contraction in France’s private sector and represents the most significant downturn since February 2025.

The S&P Global France Services PMI declined to 46.5 in April 2026, down from 48.8 in March, corroborating initial assessments. This represented the most significant decline since February 2025. In March 2026, France’s industrial production experienced a month-on-month increase of 1%, surpassing market forecasts of a 0.5% rise and recovering from an upwardly adjusted decline of 0.9% in the preceding month.