CAC 40 Slips After Positive Start, Down More Than 1%

(RTTNews) - After an initial upmove, the French stock market's benchmark CAC 40 retreated and slipped into negative territory on Friday amid concerns about growth as the Middle East War entered its seventh day.

Stocks gained earlier in the session after the US granted India a 30-day waiver to continue purchasing Russian oil, aiming to stabilize supply amid the Middle East conflict.

The CAC 40, which advanced to 8,104.77 earlier in the session, was down 81.19 points or 1.01% at 7,964.61 a little while ago.

Eiffage, STMicroelectronics and Bouygues are down 3.1%, 3% and 2.8%, respectively. Vinci, Orange and EssilorLuxottica are down 2%-2.5%.

Air Liquide, Accor, Veolia Environment, Dassault Systemes, Saint Gobain, Sanofi, Michelin and Engie are also notably lower.

Thales is rising 1.3%. Safran, Capgemini, Publicis Groupe, TotalEnergie and BNP Paribas are up with modest gains.

In economic news, data from Eurostat showed the number of employed persons in the Euro Area rose by 0.2% from the previous quarter to 172.6 million in the final quarter of 2025, confirming the preliminary estimate, and above the initial market expectations of a 0.1% expansion. It was the bloc's 19th consecutive period of employment growth,

The Euro Area economy grew 1.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, revised down from an initial estimate of 1.3%. The figure marks the slowest annual growth in more than a year, easing from a 1.4% expansion in the previous quarter.