(RTTNews) - French stocks slipped on Thursday, extending losses to a fifth straight session, amid lingering concerns about the Middle East conflict. In addition to digesting the regional economic data and corporate earnings updates, investors also looked ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement later in the day.
The benchmark CAC 40, which dropped to 7,957.83 earlier, was down 45.03 points or 0.56% at 8,027.62 nearly half an hour past noon.
Stellantis tumbled 7.4%. The stock fell despite the company reporting a turnaround performance in the January-March 2026 quarter. Concerns about future performance in the North American market weighed on the stock.
Credit Agricole lost nearly 6% after results fell short of expectations. The bank reported a quarterly net profit of 1.68 billion euros ($1.96 billion), up 1.8% compared with the year-earlier period.
Societe Generale and BNP Paribas lost 5.2% and 4.5%, respectively.
Renault slipped by about 2.1%. Michelin and Schneider Electric lost 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. EssilorLuxottica, LVMH, TotalEnergies and L'Oreal also drifted lower.
Engie moved up 2.2%. Veolia Environment gained about 2%, while Capgemini, Carrefour, Bureau Veritas, Orange, Safran and ArcelorMittal climbed 1%-1.5%.
France's economy remained flat in the first quarter due to sluggish domestic demand and weaker exports and consumer price inflation hit the highest since mid-2024, driven by surging energy prices, official data showed Thursday. Gross domestic product stalled in the first quarter after expanding 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the first estimate from the statistical office INSEE.
French domestic producer prices increased 2% month-on-month in March 2026, the highest level in four months, following an upwardly revised 0.3% fall in February, data from INSEE showed.
France's economy stalled quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2026, compared with market expectations and the previous period's 0.2% growth, preliminary estimates showed. On an annual basis, GDP expanded 1.1%, following a 1.3% increase in Q4.
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