French Stocks End Three-Day Winning Streak
2026-04-02 07:45
By
Czyrill Jean Coloma
1 min. read
The CAC 40 tumbled 1.1% to 7,893 on Thursday, snapping a three-session winning streak, as fading hopes for a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict weighed on market sentiment.
US President Trump struck a sharply hawkish tone toward Iran, warning, “we’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” and signaling that military action would be decisive.
On the monetary policy front, interest rate futures now point to at least two additional 25 bps rate hikes by year-end, marking a notable shift from earlier expectations of no ECB policy changes before the conflict escalated.
Financial stocks were among the worst performers, including BNP Paribas (-2.6%), Crédit Agricole (-1.7%), and Société Générale (-3%).
Other notable decliners were Schneider Electric (-3.6%), STMicroelectronics (-3.4%), and Airbus (-2.3%).
In contrast, TotalEnergies climbed 2.1%, supported by surging oil prices amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.