The contraction continues in Paris, where the CAC 40 is down 0.2% this morning, hovering around 8,050 points, and appears to be heading toward what could become its seventh consecutive session of decline.
Among the biggest losers today are Thales (-1.5%), closely followed by Sanofi and Eurofins Scientific (each down 1.3%).
As the quarterly earnings season draws to a close, markets are grappling with high valuation levels, a lack of clear catalysts, and the potential for a speculative bubble in AI. The result? The risk of significant profit-taking--and thus a market correction--is prompting investors to exercise caution.
Investor sentiment worsened again yesterday following statements from the CEOs of several major American investment banks, who declared that a Wall Street correction has become inevitable within the next 12 to 24 months.
The case of Palantir, the predictive AI specialist, is particularly striking in this context. Despite the Denver-based group posting stronger-than-expected quarterly results and raising its annual guidance on Monday evening, its share price tumbled nearly 8% yesterday, the victim of profit-taking after quadrupling since January 1.
Futures contracts currently point to a flat opening for major U.S. markets.
Worried that the ongoing consolidation could intensify, market participants may seek to reduce risk in their portfolios and shift toward safer assets.
On the statistics front, French manufacturing output rebounded in September (+0.9% after -1% in August), as did overall industrial production (+0.8% after -0.9% the previous month), according to seasonally and working-day adjusted data from Insee.
Meanwhile, France's HCOB composite PMI index dropped from 48.1 in September to 47.7 in October, its lowest level since last February, marking a 14th consecutive monthly decline in private sector activity.
Across the eurozone, the HCOB composite PMI index rose sharply in October (52.5) compared to September (51.2), reaching its highest level since May 2023 and signaling an acceleration in overall activity growth in the region.
In Germany, industrial orders rebounded more strongly than expected in September, thanks in particular to renewed activity in the automotive sector, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Statistical Office.
The results of the ADP employment survey, due around lunchtime, will be closely watched--especially as the U.S. Department of Labor's monthly jobs report, one of the most closely followed economic events by markets, will not be released on Friday due to the ongoing government shutdown paralyzing U.S. federal agencies.
The ISM services index, expected later in the afternoon, will also be under heightened scrutiny, as it will provide further insight into the current business climate across the Atlantic.
Economic indicators won't be the only reference points for investors in the days ahead. They will also be analyzing the results of several major listed companies, including Arm, AstraZeneca, McDonald's, and Qualcomm.
On the Forex market, the euro is down 0.5% against the greenback, trading at 1.147 USD, after consecutively breaching the 1.16 and 1.15 thresholds in recent days and returning to three-month lows against the dollar.
On the bond market, government bond yields remain stable. The German 10-year Bund is at 2.65%, while the equivalent French OAT stands at 3.44%.
As markets await the release of weekly U.S. oil inventory data later this afternoon, Brent crude is up 0.5% in London, at 64.7 USD a barrel.
In French corporate news, Rubis reported a 3% drop in revenue for the third quarter of 2025, including a 1% decline in retail marketing and a 17% drop in support services, within its core energy distribution operations.
Bouygues posted group net income of 675 million euros for the first nine months of 2025, weighed down by the exceptional tax on large company profits in France; excluding this, net income would have risen 7% to 735 million euros.
Eutelsat announced the appointment of Sébastien Rouge as Chief Financial Officer and member of the group's executive committee, reporting to CEO Jean-François Fallacher. The appointment will take effect on February 1, 2026.
Finally, Oxford Nanopore Technologies and bioMérieux have announced the launch of AmPORE-TB, a sequencing solution for research use only, designed to rapidly identify antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.
