CAC 40 Drops 1.4% As Gepolitical, Tariff Concerns Weigh

(RTTNews) - France's equity benchmark CAC 40 dropped to a three-week low on Tuesday as stocks tumbled on selling pressure due to escalating geopolitical tensions and new tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The United States deployed military aircraft to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, prompting Denmark to rush its Army chief and troops to the Arctic Island in a dramatic escalation of tensions.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne after Paris rejected his invitation to join his proposed Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts, saying it "does not intend to answer favorably."

The CAC 40 was down 113.37 points or 1.4% at 7,998.65 about half an hour past noon.

Kering, the biggest loser in the benchmark index, dropped by about 3.5%. LVMH slid 2.8%, while Hermes International, Capgemini, Schneider Electric, Eiffage, Saint Gobain, Stellantis, Eurofins Scientific and Airbus lost 2 to 2.5%.

Legrand, Thales, Safran, Veolia Environment, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, ArcelorMittal, AXA, Bouygues, Vinci, Credit Agricole, STMicroElectronics, Engie, Societe Generale and Unibail Rodamco drifted lower by 1 to 1.9%.

Pernod Ricard, Publicis Groupe, Dassault Systemes, Renault and TotalEnergies posted modest gains.

A report from the European Central Bank said the euro area current account surplus declined sharply in November as the surplus on goods trade decreased and the primary income deficit widened.

The seasonally and working-day-adjusted current account surplus fell to EUR 9.0 billion from EUR 27.0 billion in October. In the same period last year, the surplus totaled EUR 23.0 billion.

The surplus on goods trade shrank to EUR 24 billion from EUR 33 billion in the previous month, and the surplus on services decreased to EUR 12 billion from EUR 13 billion.