CAC 40 Hits 5-Month High On Earnings, Easing AI Fears

(RTTNews) - France's equity benchmark CAC 40 moved to a new 5-month high on Friday as investors reacted positively to the latest batch of earnings updates and other corporate news. Easing concerns about the impact of AI infrastructure spending helped outweigh worries about Middle East tensions.

Investors also digested France and Eurozone inflation data.

The CAC 40 was up 86.19 points or 1.02% at 8,571.83 nearly an hour past noon.

Saint-Gobain surged nearly 9% after confirming its 2026 outlook. Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, the company continues to expect an EBITDA margin of more than 15%, in a contrasted macroeconomic environment and uncertain geopolitical landscape.

Engie moved up 5% after raising its full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected first-half earnings. Engie's net income climbed 13.7% to 3.323 billion euros in the first-half, from last year's 2.923 billion euros. Earnings per share improved to 1.28 euros from 1.16 euros a year ago.

Euronext climbed 5.6%. STMicroelectronics, Schneider Electric and Credit Agricole gained 3%-3.3%. Legrand and Stellantis moved up 2.8% and 2.7%, respectively.

Sanofi, Thales, EssilorLuxottica, Airbus, Societe Generale, Capgemini, Michelin, Safran, ArcelorMittal and BNP Paribas also moved notably higher.

Orange drifted lower by about 4.3%. Bouygues dropped 2.1%, while L'Oreal, Veolia Environment and Danone lost 1.7%-1.9%.

Accor, Hermes International, Dassault Systemes and Carrefour shed 0.9%-1.2%. Kering and Publicis Groupe posted moderate losses.

In economic news, French inflation accelerated in July due to higher prices of energy and services, preliminary estimate from the statistical office INSEE revealed.

Consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.1% in July from 1.8% in June. The rate was forecast to remain unchanged at 1.8%.

Likewise, inflation based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, advanced more-than-expected to 2.4% from 2% in June. The index was expected to climb 2.1%.

Month-on-month, consumer prices rebounded 0.6% following a 0.3% fall in June. The HICP also grew 0.6%, partially offsetting the 0.3% drop in the previous month.

Another data from the statistical office INSEE showed that producer prices in the domestic market grew at a slower pace of 2.6% year-on-year in June, following May's 3.1% increase. On a monthly basis, the decline in producer prices intensified to 0.6% from 0.2% in May.

Flash data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation increased in July on energy and services costs, edging up to 2.9% in the month from 2.8% in June. The rate came in line with expectations.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 2.5% from 2.4% in the previous month. On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices climbed 0.2% in July.