CAC 40 Tumbles More Than 4% On All-round Selling

(RTTNews) - French stocks are down sharply in the red on Friday, extending losses from the previous session, amid rising concerns about growth following U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" announcement earlier in the week.

Trump's moves prompted several European leaders to warn of retaliatory measures. French President Macro called on companies to suspend planned investments in the U.S.

Investors are also digesting a slew of regional economic data.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down as much as 310.00 points or 4.08% at 7,288.98 a few minutes ago.

Societe Generale is plunging more than 10%. BNP Paribas is declining nearly 8% and Credit Agricole is down 5.2%.

ArcelorMittal is down 9%, while Unibail Rodamco, Saint Gobain, Stellantis, Thales, STMicroElectronics, Renault, AXA and Accor are down 5 to 8%.

Publicis Groupe is down by about 4.7%. Airbus, Safran, TotalEnergies, Teleperformance, Veolia Environment, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, Bouygues and Legrand are down 3 to 4.5%.

Sanofi, Edenred, Michelin, Hermes International, Dassault Systemes, Essilor and Eurofins Scientific are also down sharply.

Data from statistical office INSEE showed France's industrial production recovered at a stronger-than-expected pace in February, growing by 0.7% month-on-month, in contrast to the 0.5% decrease in January. Economists had forecast output to grow 0.5%.

Likewise, manufacturing output advanced 1.4% after a 0.5% drop in the previous month. The upturn in output was mainly driven by the 1.2% rebound in 'other manufacturing industries' and the 3.1% increase in the manufacture of machinery and equipment goods.

Data from S&P Global said the HCOB Construction PMI in France rose to 43.8 in March 2025 from a five-month low of 38.9 in the previous month, pointing to a slower rate of contraction across the country's construction sector but still sharp overall.

Meanwhile, data showed new passenger car registrations in France fell 14.5% year-on-year to 153,842 units in March 2025, marking the third consecutive monthly decline.