The CAC 40 index fell 52.53 points to 7,030.86 points around 9:55 a.m.

The day before, it had finished up 0.09%, its sixth consecutive increase.

The Parisian rating is overtaken by the trend on Wall Street, which ended sharply lower on Wednesday after economic indicators showing a slowdown in the world's largest economy.

While the Producer Price Index (PPI), or wholesale price, fell much more than economists expected, contributing to Wall Street's higher opening, the sharper-than-expected decline in industrial production and retail sales ended up weighing on the indices.

Retail sales show "a slowdown in consumer spending", describes Philippe Waechter, director of economic research at Ostrum AM.

Since the beginning of the year "the reopening of China and the moderation of gasoline prices have considerably improved the prospects for global growth", even more so in Europe with the easing of energy tensions, explains Stephen Innes, of Spi AM.

The CAC has thus gained nearly 10% in 2023.

However, "the fears of inflation linked to the reopening of China are manifesting themselves again" with a still very aggressive position taken by an official of the American Federal Reserve, James Bullard, who poses "the threat of a new strong tightening of monetary policy", he continues to explain the trend to come on the European financial markets.

Industrials at half mast

Cyclical stocks, the most sensitive to economic activity and which have risen sharply since the start of the year, were down this time: Renault fell 1.86% to 36.56 euros, Saint-Gobain 0.77% to 54.08 euros, Schneider Electric by 1.27% to 146.52 euros.

Banks were also affected by doubts about the robustness of the economy, with a drop of 1.41% for Societe Generale to 24.39 euros and 0.89% for BNP Paribas to 59.11 euros.

Arkema and Engie sign a contract

The chemist Arkema (-1.22% to 92.30 euros) signed with Engie (-0.73% to 12.44 euros) a major contract for the purchase over 10 years of biomethane, gas resulting from the fermentation of waste agriculture and agri-food, the two groups announced on Thursday.

Accor sells shares in China

The hotel giant Accor (+ 1.82% to 29.02 euros) announced on Wednesday that it had sold its residual 3.3% stake in the Chinese company H World Group, ex-Huazhu, for an amount of 460 million dollars, realizing significant added value, while remaining its partner in China.

“Following this operation”, specifies a press release, “Accor no longer holds any shares in the capital of H World Group Limited”, of which it had acquired 10.8% in 2016.

© 2023 AFP