CAC 40 Retreats After Bright Start As Investors React To Earnings

(RTTNews) - After a fairly bright start, the French market retreated and slipped into negative territory on Thursday, stocks turning in a mixed performance amid a slew of earnings reports. Investors are also digesting the latest batch of economic data from the region, and reacting to the developments on the trade front as well.

The benchmark CAC 40, which climbed to 7,906.37 earlier in the day, was down 26.17 points or 0.33% at 7,835.79 a few minutes ago.

Societe Generale is up 6% thanks to stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. BNP Paribas is gaining about 1.3%.

Air France-KLM is gaining more than 3%, lifted by higher second-quarter profits. Legrand is ganing about 4% on impressive earnings.

Safran is up with a gain of nearly 5%, lifted by strong first-half earnings and full-year revenue guidance.

Dassault Aviation, Capgemini, Thales and L'Oreal are up 1.3 to 1.5%, while EssilorLuxottica is gaining 2.7%.

Accor is plunging nearly 10% despite reporting a larger-than-expected rise in H1 earnings. Sanofi is down with a loss of about 2.1% after the company's earnings fell short of expectations. Veolia Environment is down nearly 2% after reporting a decline in first-half revenue.

Renault is down 2.3%, STMicroElectronics is declining 1% and Bouygues is lower by about 3.7%. Schneider Electric and Hermes International are down 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.

In economic news, data from INSEE showed France's harmonized inflation remained stable in July and stayed well below the European Central Bank's 2% target due to weaker energy prices.

The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.9% year-on-year in July, the same rate as seen in June. The rate was expected to slow to 0.8%.

Likewise, consumer price inflation remained unchanged at 1% in July, in line with expectations.

The statistical office said producer prices declined at the slowest pace since February. Producer prices slid 0.2% month-on-month in June, following May's 0.9% decrease.

On a yearly basis, producer prices advanced 0.2% after remaining flat in May, data showed.