French Stocks Mostly Subdued In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - The French market is down in negative territory on Friday with investors digesting a slew of economic data, and look ahead to key consumer inflation report from the U.S.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 31.60 points or 0.41% at 7,731.00 a little while ago.

STMicroElectronics is down nearly 2%. Teleperformance, Pernod Ricard, Capgemini, Vinci, Engie, Credit Agricole, Accor, Eurofins Scientific and Essilor are down 1 to 1.7%.

BNP Paribas and Schneider Electric are down nearly 1%. Michelin, Renault, Kering, Vivendi, Carrefour, Saint-Gobain, AXA, Stellantis, Edenred and Sanofi are also notably lower.

TotalEnergies, Orange, Unibail Rodamco, Thales, Dassault Systemes and Airbus are up with modest gains.

Data from Insee showed France's annual inflation rate eased to 0.9% in August 2025, below market expectations of holding steady at July's 1%, according to a preliminary estimate.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4%, accelerating from a 0.2% gain in July, supported by a seasonal rebound in clothing prices after summer sales, alongside smaller increases in food and services, while energy slipped slightly. The annual harmonized inflation rate slowed to 0.8% from 0.9%, and the monthly HICP rose 0.5% after 0.3% previously.

The French economy grew 0.3% in the second quarter, in line with preliminary estimates, picking up from 0.1% in the first quarter, and marking the strongest pace in three quarters.

The Gross Domestic Product in France expanded 0.8% in the second quarter of 2025 over the same quarter of the previous year.

The total number of payrolled employees in France increased by 51,900, or 0.2% to 27.1 million in the second quarter of 2025, following a 0.1% fall in the previous quarter.