CAC 40 Moderately Lower; BNP Paribas Rises On Buyback Announcement

(RTTNews) - French stocks are down in negative territory on Monday, retreating from a one-month high recorded in the previous session, as investors make cautious moves amid some concerns about global growth following a downward revision in U.S. credit rating.

Investors are also digesting news about the EU and the UK reaching a provisional deal on defense, fisheries and youth mobility ahead of an upcoming summit.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 58.17 points or 0.74% at 7,828.52 a little while ago.

Hermes International is declining nearly 2.5%. Kering and LVMH are down 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively.

STMicroElectronics, Stellantis, Schneider Electric, Edenred and Saint Gobain are down 1 to 1.4%. Legrand, Teleperformance, ArcelorMittal, Accor, Thales and Airbus are moderately lower.

BNP Paribas is rising nearly 2%, after the bank announced a share buyback plan worth 1.08 billion euros.

Societe Generale and Carrefour are up almost 1%, while Michelin, L'Oreal and Veolia Environment are gaining 0.6 to 0.7%.

AXA, Sanofi, Bureau Veritas, Credit Agricole, Danone and Engie are up with modest gains.

In European economic news, Eurozone consumer prices logged a steady growth in April, final data from Eurostat showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices grew 2.2% on a yearly basis in April, the same pace of increase as seen in March. Eurostat confirmed the flash estimate published on May 2.

Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco rose to 2.7% from 2.4% in the previous month. The core rate also matched the preliminary estimate.

Among components to HICP, services cost increased the most, up 4%. This was followed by a 3% rise in food, alcohol and tobacco prices. Non-energy industrial goods prices gained only 0.6%. By contrast, energy prices plunged 3.6% from the last year.

On a monthly basis, the HICP moved up 0.6%, as estimated.