CAC 40 Surpasses 8,200 Points Driven by Luxury, STMicro Drops

A Parisian Trading Session Against the Tide

With 32 stocks rising and only 8 declining, the Paris market shows a clear dominance of buyers at midday. This stands in sharp contrast to other major markets: the Nasdaq is down 0.89%, the S&P 500 drops 0.74%, and the Asian session ended in the red with the Hang Seng down 1.48% and the Nikkei falling 1.36%. In Europe, the DAX is moderately up by 0.34%, while London's FTSE 100 falls by 0.72%. Paris is therefore going solo, driven by its market heavyweights.

The atmosphere remains cautious, however, amid persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as Washington mentions the possibility of an agreement with Tehran this weekend, although discussions have yet to yield any concrete progress according to the Iranian side.

Tech and Luxury Lead the Charge

The day's biggest increase goes to Capgemini, which surged by 6.4% to 104 euros, marking by far the best performance on the index. The digital services group also boosts Dassault Systèmes, which rose by 4.52% to 19.89 euros, confirming the renewed appeal of French technology in this session.

Luxury is another driving force of the morning. Kering advances by 2.68% to 250.60 euros, closely followed by EssilorLuxottica (+2.53% to 174.05 euros) and LVMH (+2.43% to 472.05 euros). The French-Italian EssilorLuxottica also clarified this Thursday the payment scheme for its 2025 dividend, with the issuance of 957,954 new shares supplemented by a cash payment for shareholders who did not opt for share payment.

STMicro faces heavy penalties, Schneider under bond pressure

Conversely, STMicroelectronics is the biggest loser on the CAC 40, dropping 4.85% to 65.17 euros. This decline comes even as the semiconductor manufacturer saw a gain of over 10% after raising its ambitions for its data center business, now aiming for approximately $1 billion in revenue by 2026, compared to just over $500 million previously. UBS also increased its price target today from 49 to 80 euros, accompanying the stock with a buy recommendation.

Schneider Electric fell 1.85% to 278.20 euros, following the announcement of the launch of an 800 million euro Océane bond maturing in 2034, along with the redemption of the existing convertible bond maturing in 2030, with a nominal amount of 650 million euros. Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal slipped 1.21% to 60.52 euros, despite a price target upgrade by Kepler Cheuvreux from 60 to 73 euros with a buy recommendation. Legrand (-0.54%) and Danone (-0.44%) closed the list with modest declines.