CAC 40 Dips With Rate-cut Bets Back In Focus

(RTTNews) - French stocks were subdued on Thursday as softer U.S. consumer inflation data brought Fed rate cuts back into focus.

Closer home, the European Central Bank is widely expected to start cutting interest rates from a record high in June, with economists expecting up to three rate cuts this year.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 30 points, or 0.4 percent, at 8,209 after closing 0.2 percent higher in the previous session.

The dollar was on the back foot while U.S Treasury yields sank to six-week troughs ahead of speeches by several Federal Reserve officials later in the day.

Banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale were down around half a percent each.

Automaker Renault was down 0.6 percent.