CAC 40 Down Slightly In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - French stocks are down marginally in lackluster trade Wednesday morning as investors largely refrain from making significant moves amid a lack of triggers. Political uncertainty and anxiety ahead of some crucial data, including U.S. non-farm payroll report appear to be rendering the mood cautious.

The benchmark CAC 40 is down 3.37 points or 0.04% at 7,485.98

Edenred is gaining about 4.7%. Thales and Societe Generale are up 3.4% and 2.1%, respectively. Safran is up nearly 1%, while BNP Paribas and TotalEnergies are modestly higher.

Eurofins Scientific and Vivendi are down 3.4% and 3%, respectively. L'Oreal is lower by about 1.25%, while Danone, STMicroElectronics and Vinci are down 0.7 to 1%.

Auto major Stellantis is down 0.7%. The company announced that its racing division, Stellantis Motorsport, is collaborating with Intel Automotive, affiliated to chip maker Intel Corp., to be its technical partner in Formula E. Under the deal, the companies will work to accelerate the development of technologies specific to Formula E, in the electric series.

On the economic front, a report from statistical office INSEE said French consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in December to the lowest level in a year, coming in at 89.0, from a score of 90.0 in November.

France's trade balance narrowed to 7.1 billion euros in November, from a downwardly revised 7.5 billion euros in October.

France's current account deficit decreased to 1.7 billion euros in November from a downwardly revised 1.9 billion euros in the previous month. Exports increased to 50.10 billion euros, while imports rose to 57.186 billion euros.