CAC 40 Moderately Higher; Thales Up Sharply

(RTTNews) - French stocks are up in positive territory Monday morning, led by gains in defense shares, amid prospects of increased defense spending following European leaders echoing recent views of the U.K. about increasing spending for the sector.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 56.02 points or 0.69% at 8,167.65 a few minutes ago.

French multinational aerospace and defense company Thales shares are up more than 10%. Dassault Systemes is gaining 3.5% and Airbus Group is up nearly 4%.

ArcelorMittal and Safran are gaining 3.4% and 2.3%, respectively. Sanofi, Teleperformance, TotalEnergies and Renault are up 1.7 to 2%.

AXA, BNP Paribas, Legrand, Vivendi, Publicis Groupe and Societe Generale are moderately higher.

Carrefour, STMicroElectronics, Unbail Rodamco, Stellantis and Saint Gobain are down 1 to 2%.

Orange, Pernod Ricard, Vinci, Michelin and Hermes International are modestly lower.

The HCOB France Manufacturing PMI rose to 45.8 in February 2025, exceeding initial estimates of 45.5 and up from 45.0 in January. While the sector remained in contraction, the downturn was the softest in nine months.

Flash data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation eased slightly in February, with the harmoized index of consumer prices logging an annual growth of 2.4% in the month, after rising 2.5% in January. The rate was expected to ease to 2.3%.

Likewise, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, slowed marginally to 2.6% from 2.7% in the previous month. This was also slightly above forecast of 2.5%. On a monthly basis, the HICP gained 0.5% in February.

The HCOB Eurozone Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.6 in February 2025, surpassing the preliminary estimate of 47.3 and improving from January's 46.6. While the sector remained in contraction, the downturn was the mildest since early 2023.