CAC 40 Up Marginally In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - After opening slightly higher and holding in positive territory for more than an hour Tuesday morning, French stocks pared gains and are mostly subdued now as investors make cautious moves, assessing the likely impact of the Trump administration's new tariff moves.

Investors are also awaiting the congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to a flat 25% "without exceptions or exemptions." Trump's move is aimed to support the struggling U.S. steel and aluminium companies, but the tariff increases the risk of a multi-front trade war.

A White House official confirmed that the measures would take effect on March 4.

The benchmark CAC 40, which advanced to 8,037.24 in early trades, was up 2.87 points or 0.04% at 8,009.09 a few minutes ago.

Societe Generale, Essilor, Teleperformance, Engie and Saint Gobain are gaining 1 to 2%.

Kering, which climbed about 5% in early trades, is up 1.2% now. The stock surged after posting better-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter.

STMicroElectronics, Schneider Electric, Orange, Legrand, Thales, Credit Agricole, TotalEnergies, AXA and Bouygues are up 0.3 to 0.9%.

Carrefour is declining 1.9%. Michelin is lower by about 1.5%, ArcelorMittal is down 1.25% and Eurofins Scientific are down 1 to 1.25%.

Accor, LVMH, Pernod Ricard, Vinci, Renault, Dassault Systemes , L'Oreal and Sanofi are lower by 0.4 to 0.9%.

On the economic front, data released by the statistical office INSEE showed France's unemployment rate dropped marginally in the fourth quarter, easing to 7.3%, from 7.4% in the year-ago quarter. The rate was forecast to rise to 7.5%.

The unemployment rate remained slightly above its lowest level since 1982, when the rate was 7.1%.

Further, data showed that the employment rate slid 0.2 points over the quarter to 68.9%. It remained 0.4 points above its level from a year ago.