BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - France's equity benchmark CAC 40 drifted lower Wednesday morning, weighed down by some disappointing corporate updates. Meanwhile, investors continued to track geopolitical news, particularly the reports about possible second round of ceasefire talks between U.S. and Iran later in the week.
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told Fox News that he views the war was very close to being over. The President said that talks could resume 'within the next two days'.
The United States has reportedly set out two new conditions before restarting negotiations.
Washington wants full and unrestricted reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Israel Hayom reported, adding the Americans are sticking to a position of reciprocity.
The CAC 40, which dropped to 8,258.29 earlier, was down 51.02 points or 0.61% at 8,276.84 a few minutes before noon.
Kering tumbled nearly 10% after sales at its flagship brand, Gucci, posted its eleventh straight quarterly decline. The luxury goods company reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of 3.57 billion euros, representing a 6% decline as reported, but remaining stable on a comparable basis.
Hermes International slid 8.4% after reporting a slowdown in sales growth for the first quarter. For the first quarter, the Group posted revenue of EUR 4.070 billion, less than EUR 4.129 billion in the same period last year. Revenue from the ready-to-wear and accessories business fell to EUR 1.076 billion from EUR 1.149 billion in the previous year.
Safran shed nearly 2%, while Saint Gobain, Airbus, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and ArcelorMittal lost 0.6%-1.1%.
Stellantis climbed nearly 3.5%. The Franco-Italian automaker reported a 12 percent rise in global shipments in the first quarter.
Sanofi gained 1.2%, while Pernod Ricard, Capgemini, Orange, Renault and Euronext moved up 0.5%-0.9%.
In economic news, France's harmonized consumer price inflation accelerated slightly more than initially estimated in March, final data from the statistical office INSEE revealed.
EU harmonized inflation hit 2% in March, which was up from the initial estimate of 1.9% and exceeded the 1.1% rise in February.
At the same time, the statistical office confirmed that consumer price inflation rose to 1.7%, as previously estimated, from 0.9% in February. This was the sharpest rise since August 2024.
The acceleration in overall inflation was driven by the 7.4% surge in energy prices. Data showed that services inflation advanced to 1.7% from 1.6%.
Meanwhile, food inflation decelerated to 1.8% from 2% and manufactured products prices fell 0.5%.
On a monthly basis, consumer price inflation advanced to 1% from 0.6%. The initially estimated increase was 0.9%.
Eurozone industrial output increased by 0.4% in March, after dropping by 0.8% in February, data from Eurostat showed. Industrial output was expected to rise by 0.3% in March.
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