CAC 40 Up Sharply On Data, Easing Trade Tensions

(RTTNews) - French stocks are exhibiting strength on Friday amid easing concerns about U.S.-China trade tensions, after Beijing stated its willingness to engage in tariff negotiations with the United States.

At the same time, Beijing has also noted that the U.S. needs to show "sincerity" in negotiations and should be prepared to cancel its unilateral tariffs.

Investors are also digesting French manufacturing activity, and eurozone inflation data, in addition to reacting to corporate earnings updates.

The benchmark CAC, which climbed 7,679.01 earlier in the session, was up 119.34 points or 1.57% at 40 7,713.21 a few minutes ago.

Airbus is rising 5%. Airbus reported on Wednesday that it posted a net income of 793 million euros or 1.01 euro per share in the first-quarter, up from 595 million euros or 0.76 euro per share last year.

Schneider Electric is gaining 4.2%, while Thales, ArcelorMittal, Safran, STMicroElectronics, Legrand, Saint Gobain and Accor are up 2.5 to 4%.

Vinci, Sanofi, Eurofins Scientific, Unibail Rodamco, Kering, Dassault Systemes, Stellantis, Air Liquide, BNP Paribas, Publicis Groupe and AXA are up 1.3 to 2%. Capgemini and Bureau Veritas are also notably higher.

Teleperformance is down 5.7%. Edenred, Engie, TotalEnergies and Orange are down with modest losses.

Flash data from Eurostat said Eurozone annual inflation remained stable in April. The harmonized index of consumer prices grew 2.2% on a yearly basis in April, the same pace of increase as seen in March. Prices were expected to climb at a slower pace of 2.1%.

Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco increased more-than-expected to 2.7% from 2.4% in the previous month. Economists had forecast a rise of 2.5%.

On a monthly basis, the HICP moved up 0.6%, data showed.

Data from S&P Global said the HCOB France Manufacturing PMI rose to 48.7 in April 2025 from 48.5 in March, revised up from an initial estimate of 48.2. While still signaling contraction, it marked the mildest since the downturn began in February 2023.

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.

Official data showed France's government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 47 billion in March 2025 from EUR 52.8 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. Total revenues rose 6.9% year-on-year to EUR 77.6 billion, while expenditures were unchanged at EUR 112.8 billion.