CAC 40 Down Slightly; Sanofi Tanks Nearly 10%

(RTTNews) - French stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Thursday with investors largely making cautious moves while looking ahead to crucial economic data, including U.S. private sector jobs data, due later in the day, and U.S. non-farm payroll employment report, due on Friday.

Investors are also awaiting the upcoming debt auctions in France and the U.K., and closely following the developments on the trade front.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 1.91 points or 0.02% at 7,717.80 a few minutes ago. The index had earlier drifted down to 7,676.84.

Publicis Groupe shares are up 3.7%. Vivendi is gaining 2.5%, while Renault, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Carrefour, L'Oreal, Danone, Teleperformance and STMicroElectronics are gaining 1.5 to 2%.

Veolia Environment, Kering, Airbus, Bouygues, ArcelorMittal, Societe Generale and Legrand are up 1 to 1.4%.

Nicox is soaring nearly 12% after announcing it expects to fully repay all existing financial debts by 2026.

Sanofi is plunging nearly 10%, weighed down by the news that its Phase 3 trial for the atopic dermatitis drug amlitelimab failed to meet efficacy expectations.

LVMH and Pernod Ricard are down 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively. Stellantis, Thales and Accor are down 0.7 to 1%.

In economic news, data from S&P Global showed that the HCOB Construction PMI in France increased to 46.7 in August 2025, from July's ten-month low of 39.7. This marked the slowest pace of contraction since January 2023, signaling a notable easing in the sector's downturn.

Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone retail sales declined more than expected in July largely reflecting a notable fall in food and auto fuel sales.

Retail sales posted a monthly fall of 0.5%, in contrast to the 0.6% increase in June. Sales were expected to fall 0.3%.

On a yearly basis, growth in retail sales eased to 2.2% in July from 3.5% in June. Moreover, this was weaker than forecast of 2.4%.

Sales in the EU27 registered a monthly fall of 0.4% in July but increased 2.4% from a year ago.