Paris – French stocks experienced a notable surge on Thursday morning, driven by positive reactions to quarterly earnings updates and increased anticipation of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank (ECB). The benchmark CAC 40 index climbed 1.1%, reaching 8,130.95.
Legrand led the gains, rising nearly 6% after reporting strong net profit growth for 2024 and setting a sales target of 6% to 10% for the current year. Michelin followed closely, gaining about 5.3% despite a more than 4% drop in full-year net earnings. Essilor also saw a significant increase of nearly 5% due to robust earnings in 2024.
Other notable performers included Orange, up 3% despite a 3.7% year-over-year decrease in fiscal 2024 net income, and Stellantis, rising nearly 4%. Renault also saw a gain of 3.7%.
Conversely, Unibail Rodamco declined by 1.7% despite reporting a fiscal 2024 net profit of 146.2 million euros, a significant improvement from the previous year's loss of 1.6 billion euros. Danone, BNP Paribas, and TotalEnergies experienced slight declines, ranging from 0.8 to 1.1%.