France’s equity benchmark CAC 40 experienced a significant decline on Thursday, reaching its lowest point since March. This downturn in stocks can be attributed to escalating concerns regarding inflation and interest rates, exacerbated by rising oil prices and persistently high bond yields, influenced by ongoing geopolitical tensions.
With no progress observed in addressing the Middle East issue, oil prices experienced a significant increase, as front-month Brent crude futures surged to $100.79 a barrel, reflecting an approximate rise of 2.8% compared to the previous close. The yield on France’s 10-year Government bond increased to 4.953% before retreating to 4.873%, remaining 0.03% higher than Wednesday’s level.
The CAC 40, which fell to 7,820.98, experienced a decline of 111.60 points or 1.4% from its earlier position of 7,852.91 shortly after noon.
- Societe Generale, Accor, Credit Agricole, Saint Gobain, and BNP Paribas experienced declines ranging from 3% to 3.2%. Capgemini, Kering, Unibail Rodamco, Carrefour, ArcelorMittal, and Hermes International experienced declines in the range of 2% to 2.5%.
- Veolia Environment, Bouygues, Vinci, TotalEnergies, LVMH, AXA, Engie, L’Oreal, Bureau Veritas, Dassault Systemes, Stellantis, Air Liquide, EssilorLuxottica, Eiffage, Renault, Airbus, and Pernod Ricard experienced a significant decline.
- Sanofi and STMicroelectronics increased by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Legrand, Orange, and Thales experienced a slight increase.
Data released by S&P Global indicated that the S&P Global France Manufacturing PMI declined to 50.6 in September, down from 51.1 in August, exceeding the preliminary estimate of 50.3. Factory production experienced a modest increase for the second consecutive month; however, this uptick was limited as declining demand exerted pressure on output.
