CAC 40 Drifts Lower On Valuation Concerns, Rate Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - French stocks are showing some weakness on Wednesday amid apprehensions about the outlook for Fed rate cuts, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments that equity valuations are high.

A few Fed officials, including Michelle Bowman, Raphael Bostic and Austan Goolsbee are concerned about growing risks to the labor market, while others remain primarily worried about the possibility that above-target inflation could be pushed higher by tariffs and other policies.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 20.34 points or 0.26% at 7,851.68 a few minutes ago.

Stellantis, down 3.4%, is the biggest loser in the benchmark CAC 40 index. Hermes International is down nearly 2%, while Renault, EssilorLuxottica, Capgemini, L'Oreal, Euronext, Publicis Groupe and Saint Gobain are down 1 to 1.7%.

LVMH and Pernod Ricard are down nearly 1%. Dassault Systemes, Credit Agricole, Edenred, Michelin and Accor are down with moderate losses.

Carrefour is gaining about 2.3%. Thales, Bouygues, Kering and Legrand are up 1.3 to 1.6%. Safran and Schneider Electric are down nearly 1%.

Shares of multinational technology service and consulting company Atos SE are up 4.7% after the company secured a major European Commission cybersecurity contract for technical operation services.