CAC 40 Recovers After Slightly Weak Start

(RTTNews) - French stocks are edging higher after a weak start Tuesday morning with investors shifting their focus to upcoming monetary policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, as well as quarterly earnings updates.

A report showing an improvement in France's consumer confidence in the month of January is aiding sentiment a bit.

The market had suffered some sharp losses in the previous session amid concerns about tech earnings due to the emergence of Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI model.

The benchmark CAC 40 is up 27.72 points or 0.35% at 7,934.30, coming off an early low of 7,879.33.

Monthly survey data from the statistical office INSEE showed France's consumer confidence showed some recovery signs at the start of the year. The consumer sentiment index rose to a 3-month high of 92 in January from 89 in the previous month. The expected score was 90. However, the index remained well below its long-term average of 100.

The index measuring consumers' outlook regarding their financial situation rose to -10.0 in January from -14.0 a month ago. The sub-index for the past financial situation of households increased slightly to -22 from -23.

Among the gainers, Eurofins Scientific is up 2.3%. Societe Generale, Capgemini, Orange and Engie are up 1.5 to 1.7%.

Edenred, Danone, Veolia, Dassault Systemes, Publicis Groupe, Credit Agricole, Carrefour, L'Oreal and Thales are advancing 0.7 to 1.2%.

French engineering and technology consulting group Alten SA is gaining 9% after 2024 revenue increased by 1.8%.

Schneider Electric is down by about 4%, extending recent losses. STMicroElectronics is lower by about 1.25%.