The flagship CAC 40 index fell 94.06 points to 7,209.75 points. The day before, it had lost 15.37 points to 7,303.81 points.

"We have a two-speed market, with artificial intelligence pushing it up on the one hand and a more cautious narrative, everything that is more sensitive to economic activity being much more fragile," says Sophie Chauvellier, manager of Dorval AM.

At the opening of Wall Street, the processor giant Nvidia exceeded the trillion dollar mark in market capitalization, driven by the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) and thus joined the very closed circle of five groups with more than a trillion valuation (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Saudi Aramco).

On the macro-economic front, consumer confidence in the United States fell in May, less sharply than expected, but it nevertheless fell to its lowest since November, as current conditions appear worse than before, according to the index released Tuesday by the Conference Board.

"What the Conference Board notes is that part of household spending related to excess savings built up during the Covid-19 pandemic is deflating, we are witnessing a slowdown in economic momentum," continues Sophie Chauvellier.

Also on the other side of the Atlantic, investors are waiting for the U.S. Congress to approve the agreement reached between President Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to raise the U.S. debt ceiling in exchange for budget cuts.

If no compromise is passed, the country could find itself in default as early as June 5, according to the US Treasury. McCarthy has scheduled a vote in the House on Wednesday in plenary. It will then be the turn of the Senate, with a Democratic majority, to seize it.

The market will not be able to get rid of this news "as long as there is no certainty", even if "the scenario of a default of the US debt, which would be unprecedented, seems unlikely", says the analyst.

In addition, the Parisian index is "sensitive to Chinese demand," says Sophie Chauvallier and "the impetus that was linked to the reopening of this market is running out of steam a little".

TotalDry energies

The French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies recorded the largest decline in the CAC 40 (-3.43% to 53.82 euros), like oil stocks elsewhere in Europe which fell in the wake of the drop in oil prices before the examination in Congress of the agreement to avoid the default of the United States.

BNP Paribas down

BNP Paribas dropped 1.44% to 55.29 at the end of the Paris session. Its Hungarian subsidiary dedicated to consumer credit of the bank was bought by Cofidis, a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, which brings together 14 of the 18 federations of the mutual group as well as CIC.

Among the banking stocks listed on the CAC 40, Axa dropped 1.05% to 26.97 euros and Crédit Agricole 1.38% to 10.73 euros. Societe Generale gained 1.41% to 22.31 euros.

Valneva loses 2%

The Franco-Austrian pharmaceutical group dropped 2.07% to 5.29 euros. Valneva said Tuesday in a statement that it had filed a marketing authorization application for its vaccine candidate against chikungunya, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, with Canadian health authorities.

© 2023 AFP