CAC 40 Closes Week of Sharp Losses

2026-03-06 16:53 By Felipe Alarcon 1 min. read

The CAC 40 index fell 0.7% to close at 7,994 on Friday as the persistent threat of an energy crisis and regional instability in the Middle East overshadowed a brief morning rebound.

While luxury heavyweights like LVMH and Kering initially rose on hopes of stabilizing oil supplies they ultimately succumbed to a broader sell off driven by concerns that a prolonged US-Israeli conflict with Iran will dampen global discretionary spending.

This cautious sentiment was reinforced by preliminary data showing Eurozone inflation accelerated to 1.9% in February which has prompted markets to price in a 63% probability of an ECB rate hike by the end of the year.

Despite the general market retreat, defense contractor Thales climbed 2.1% after reporting earnings that exceeded expectations while TotalEnergies gained 1.8% as Brent crude surged to around $90 per barrel.

The weekly decline of nearly 5% marks the sharpest drop for the Paris benchmark since last April.



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The CAC 40 Index fell -74 points or 0.91 percent on Friday to close at 7972 points. Leading the losses are STMicroelectronics (-6.63%), ArcelorMittal (-2.82%) and Accor (-2.73%). Top gainers were Thales (1.90%), TotalEnergies SE (1.26%) and Dassault Systemes (0.51%).
2026-03-06
CAC 40 Closes Week of Sharp Losses
The CAC 40 index fell 0.7% to close at 7,994 on Friday as the persistent threat of an energy crisis and regional instability in the Middle East overshadowed a brief morning rebound. While luxury heavyweights like LVMH and Kering initially rose on hopes of stabilizing oil supplies they ultimately succumbed to a broader sell off driven by concerns that a prolonged US-Israeli conflict with Iran will dampen global discretionary spending. This cautious sentiment was reinforced by preliminary data showing Eurozone inflation accelerated to 1.9% in February which has prompted markets to price in a 63% probability of an ECB rate hike by the end of the year. Despite the general market retreat, defense contractor Thales climbed 2.1% after reporting earnings that exceeded expectations while TotalEnergies gained 1.8% as Brent crude surged to around $90 per barrel. The weekly decline of nearly 5% marks the sharpest drop for the Paris benchmark since last April.
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