CAC 40 Drifts Lower In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - French stocks are down in negative territory on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session, as investors remain cautious ahead of key U.S. economic data, including reports on second-quarter GDP, and PCE report for the second quarter.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 43.34 points or 0.55% at 7,784.11 a few minutes ago.

Saint Gobain, Safran, Eurofins Scientific and EssilorLuxottica are down 1.7 to 2%. Schneider Electric, Thales, Societe Generale, Legrand, Credit Agricole and Sanofi are down 1 to 1.5%.

BNP Paribas, Bureau Veritas, Euronext, Airbus, Hermes International, Bouygues and ACC are down 0.5 to 0.9%.

TotalEnergies is down marginally. The company has announced that it plans to reduce the pace of its share buybacks for the rest of this year.

Renault is gaining 2.3%. Dassault Systems is up 1.4%, while Orange, Stellantis, Danone and Engie are up with modest gains.

On the economic front, France's consumer sentiment remained unchanged at a low level in September amid political uncertainty, monthly survey data from the statistical office INSEE showed.

The consumer confidence index held steady at 87 in September and also matched expectations.

The index measuring consumers' view about future personal financial situation rose slightly to -15, while the one related to their past personal financial situation remained stable at -21.

Households' fears about unemployment dropped in September as the index fell one point to 55.

The proportion of households who assessed that prices will increase over the next twelve months dropped in September, as the index declined to -27 from -25. The index measuring past consumer prices remained at -8, the same as in August.

Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, ACEA, showed new car registrations in Europe saw an annual increase of 5.3% in August compared to a 7.4% rise in July. This was the second straight month of growth.

However, EU car registrations edged down 0.1% in the year-to-date period.