CAC 40 Drifts Lower; Investors React To Earnings And Await ECB Policy

(RTTNews) - France's benchmark index CAC 40 is down in negative territory on Thursday with investors reacting to a slew of earnings updates and regional economic data, the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut and the warning that no further reduction is likely this year.

The market is also awaiting the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 67.11 points or 0.82% at 8,133.77 a few minutes ago.

Stellantis is down 5.5% after warning of one-time charges in the second half of the year.

Schneider Electric is down with a loss of 4.1%. Societe Generale and Kering are lower by 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively.

Credit Agricole is down 2.7%,TotalEnergies is declining by 2.3% after it reported a 2.4% drop in third-quarter earnings.

Renault is down nearly 2%.Publicis Groupe, STMicroelectronics, Pernod Ricard and BNP Paribas are down 1 to 1.7%.

Airbus is climbing up more than 2%. Capgemini is gaining 0.85%, while Dassault Systemes, safran, Hermes International, Edenred, L'Oreal and Sanofi are up with modest gains.

On the economic front, France's economic growth accelerated in the third quarter despite political uncertainty and trade tensions, official data revealed today.

Gross domestic product registered a quarterly growth of 0.5%, following a 0.3% rise in the second quarter, the statistical office INSEE reported. The growth was expected to ease to 0.2%.

The euro area economy expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter, preliminary flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Gross domestic product climbed 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, after rising 0.1% in the second quarter. GDP growth was expected to remain unchanged at 0.1%.

On a yearly basis, GDP growth eased to 1.3% from 1.5% in the prior quarter. However, the rate was better than forecast of 1.2%.

The EU27 also grew at a faster pace in the third quarter, up 0.3% sequentially, following a 0.2% rise a quarter ago. The annual growth in GDP was 1.5% compared to 1.6% in the second quarter.