France Stock Market Today, 24 November 2025: CAC 40 Closes Near 7,960 as Defence Stocks Fall and Buybacks Dominate

Paris closed Monday’s session slightly in the red, as the France stock market today struggled to hold early gains above the 8,000 mark. The CAC 40 finished the day at 7,959.67, down 0.29% (‑22.98 points), after swinging between an intraday high of 8,033.38 and a low of 7,958.61. ^[1]

Despite the modest pullback, the index remains not far from its recent record around 8,314 and well above its 52‑week low near 6,764, underscoring how strong French equities still look in 2025’s scoreboard. ^[2]

Peace‑talk headlines on Ukraine knocked defence names, while a fresh wave of share buybacks from French blue chips — led by BNP Paribas and STMicroelectronics — provided some support for banks and tech.

France stock market today: CAC 40 slips 0.29% at the close

At the closing bell on 24 November 2025, the key French equity benchmarks looked as follows:

CAC 40: 7,959.67, ‑0.29% on the day
Day range: 7,958.61 – 8,033.38
52‑week range: 6,763.76 – 8,314.23 ^[3]
FR40 (TradingEconomics version of the CAC): ~7,960, also showing a ‑0.29% move. ^[4]

The broader SBF 120 index slipped around 0.21%, confirming that the weakness was not confined to the top 40 names. ^[5]

Market breadth was fairly balanced: advancing stocks slightly outnumbered decliners on Euronext Paris (260 up vs 214 down, 93 unchanged), suggesting rotation under the surface rather than a full‑blown risk‑off session. ^[6]

Implied volatility, tracked by the CAC 40 VIX, hovered just below 19 — near a 52‑week high — indicating that investors are still paying up for downside protection even as the index trades close to record territory. ^[7]

Defence stocks drag while autos and banks resist the sell‑off

The main story on the France stock market today was the sharp underperformance of defence and aerospace stocks, hit by signs of progress in peace negotiations over Ukraine.

Across Europe, an index of defence companies dropped more than 2%, marking a second day of heavy losses as Washington and Kyiv spoke of a “refined peace framework” emerging from talks in Switzerland. ^[8]

In Paris:

Safran slid roughly 2.4%
Thales dropped about 1.5%

Both were singled out as key drags on the CAC 40, as traders priced in the possibility that future defence‑spending growth could be less explosive if a ceasefire roadmap gains traction. ^[9]

At the same time, consumer staples and parts of healthcare also saw profit‑taking, with Danone down around 1.7% and marketing group Publicis losing about 1.6% by the close. ^[10]

Balancing this weakness, cyclical sectors — autos, industrials and banks — held up reasonably well. European autos were buoyed by a broader rebound in the sector, while French banks benefitted from fresh capital‑return news and lingering optimism that rates will stay high enough to preserve margins for a while longer. ^[11]

Top CAC 40 movers on 24 November 2025

Biggest gainers

According to end‑of‑day data from Investing.com and MarketScreener, the strongest contributors to the index were: ^[12]

Stellantis – up about 3.6%, leading the CAC 40 as investors rotated back into autos exposed to a potential soft landing and rate‑cut scenario.
ArcelorMittal – gained roughly 3.2%, riding the bounce in basic‑resources and industrial names across Europe.
STMicroelectronics – added around 1.7%, helped by ongoing share buybacks and solid demand for chips despite recent global tech volatility.

These moves fit neatly into the day’s “risk‑on but selective” pattern: value‑oriented cyclicals and rate‑sensitive stocks did well as bond‑market expectations shifted toward earlier cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. ^[13]

Biggest decliners

At the other end of the CAC 40: ^[14]

Safran – down about 2.4%, the sharpest fall in the index, directly reflecting the hit to defence valuations from peace‑talk headlines.
Thales – fell around 1.5%, caught in the same downdraft as investors trimmed exposure to defence contractors.
Danone – slipped roughly 1.7%, with some analysts pointing to profit‑taking after a strong multi‑year run in defensive consumer names.
Publicis – lost about 1.6%, adding pressure from the communications and media corner of the market.

Overall, declines in defence, staples and some industrial names were just large enough to overpower gains in autos, banks and selected tech stocks, leaving the index slightly lower on the day.

Global backdrop: Fed rate‑cut hopes and Ukraine peace talks

The France stock market today did not move in isolation. Across the continent, the STOXX 600 rose about 0.31%, driven by a rebound in technology and travel‑related names. ^[15]

Several macro themes shaped sentiment:

Federal Reserve signals: Comments from New York Fed President John Williams late last week, suggesting U.S. rates could fall “in the near term”, led traders to price in a strong chance of a December rate cut. This helped global equities recover from an earlier tech‑led sell‑off and supported European cyclicals and banks. ^[16]
Ukraine peace framework: In parallel, the U.S. and Ukraine said they had drafted a refined peace framework, sparking hope — still fragile — that negotiations could eventually lead to a ceasefire. That prospect weighed heavily on defence stocks, which have been among Europe’s top performers since the war began. ^[17]

For Paris, that mix translated into a classic push‑and‑pull: optimism on rates and growth was supportive for autos, financials and industrials, while peace headlines slammed the sector that had most obviously benefitted from prolonged geopolitical tension.

French corporate news that moved the market

Beyond index‑level flows, 24 November was a busy day for company‑specific headlines on Euronext Paris.

BNP Paribas launches €1.15 billion share buyback

Before the market open, BNP Paribas announced that the European Central Bank had approved a new €1.15 billion share buyback linked to its 2025 financial‑year results. The programme covers shares listed on Euronext Paris (ISIN FR0000131104), with repurchased stock to be cancelled. ^[18]

The move reinforces BNP’s strategy of using excess capital to reward shareholders while keeping its CET1 capital ratio comfortably above regulatory minima. It also adds BNP to a growing list of European lenders leaning on buybacks to keep investors engaged after a huge rally in bank stocks over the past two years. ^[19]

STMicroelectronics steps up repurchases

Chipmaker STMicroelectronics published an update on its common share repurchase programme. Between 17 and 21 November, the group bought 645,149 shares on Euronext Paris, equal to about 0.07% of share capital, at an average price of roughly €19.29, for a total outlay of around €12.44 million. ^[20]

These transactions bring STMicro’s treasury‑share position to more than 22 million shares, roughly 2.5% of outstanding stock, underlining how aggressively major European tech names are using buybacks to support earnings per share in a volatile macro environment. TS2 Tech+1

Casino unveils ‘Renouveau 2030’ plan and balance‑sheet overhaul

Struggling retailer Casino Group used the day to present a detailed update on its “Renouveau 2030” strategy and a project to adapt and strengthen its financial structure. ^[21]

Key points from Casino’s announcements include: ^[22]

A proposed €300 million equity injection, potentially guaranteed by majority shareholder France Retail Holdings (FRH), subject to negotiations with creditors.
A plan to reduce net leverage to below 1.7x by 2029 and to cut the size and cost of its Term Loan B.
2030 financial targets such as €15.8 billion in gross sales and €644 million of adjusted EBITDA after rent, alongside cumulative capex of €1.7 billion and free cash flow of around €286 million over 2025–2030.

Investors are treating the blueprint as critical for the survival of one of France’s most indebted retailers — and as a test case for how aggressively creditors will back complex restructurings in the country’s consumer sector.

OVHcloud–LCH SA cloud deal boosts ‘sovereign cloud’ narrative

French cloud specialist OVHcloud announced a strategic agreement with LCH SA, the Paris‑based clearing house of the London Stock Exchange Group. Under the deal, OVHcloud will host a selection of LCH SA’s services in a SecNumCloud‑qualified environment — France’s high‑end cybersecurity certification. ^[23]

The partnership is designed to boost the resilience, security and scalability of critical post‑trade infrastructure, while reinforcing France’s position in “sovereign cloud” solutions for financial markets.

Waga Energy enters new phase with EQT‑backed tender offer

In the energy‑transition space, Waga Energy — which upgrades landfill gas into biomethane — confirmed that a simplified public tender offer by Box BidCo SAS, backed by private‑equity group EQT, has officially opened. ^[24]

The AMF‑approved offer is priced at €21.55 per share, with a potential earn‑out of up to €2.15 depending on U.S. tax credits.
The offer period runs from 24 November to 12 December 2025 and follows Box BidCo’s move to majority‑shareholder status earlier this year. ^[25]

The deal underlines continued M&A appetite for French renewable‑gas and climate‑tech assets, even as markets grapple with higher rates and geopolitical uncertainty.

A busy day across the Euronext Paris universe

Beyond the headline names, 24 November also brought a string of updates from mid‑caps and smaller companies:

NACON, a video‑game and accessories group, reported EBITDA of €33.6 million for the first half of 2025‑26, up 18.7%, and a 30.4% jump in operating profit, while guiding for further growth over the full year. ^[26]
JCDecaux released new data on transactions under its ongoing share buyback programme, following the launch of a plan covering up to 1.5 million shares earlier in November. ^[27]
Fleet‑management company Ayvens disclosed further purchases of its own shares under a buyback framework, highlighting how capital‑return strategies are spreading well beyond the CAC 40. ^[28]

Taken together, these announcements reinforce one of the day’s clearest themes: buybacks and balance‑sheet moves are becoming as important as earnings surprises in shaping French equity performance.

Structural themes: Euronext’s bigger footprint and defence ambitions

Euronext settles ATHEX share exchange and deepens European integration

Behind the daily price action, 24 November 2025 also marked an important structural milestone for Euronext, the operator of the Paris exchange.

Euronext confirmed that it is settling its voluntary share‑exchange tender offer for Hellenic Exchanges – Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX). New Euronext “consideration shares” are being delivered and admitted to trading across Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris, giving the group control of around 74% of ATHEX voting rights. ^[29]

For French investors, that means an ever‑deeper integration of southern‑European markets into Euronext’s trading and post‑trade infrastructure — and a broader universe of companies accessible from Paris screens.

Aerospace & Defence Growth Hub launched on a day defence stocks fall

In a twist of timing, Euronext also used 24 November to announce the launch of its European Aerospace and Defence Growth Hub. The initiative gathers 15 private companies from France, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands under the ELITE programme, with the goal of improving access to financing and strengthening the defence supply chain. ^[30]

The hub is part of a push to bolster Europe’s “strategic autonomy” in defence and aerospace — even as listed defence stocks like Safran and Thales were selling off on hopes of a Ukraine peace plan. Investors with a longer horizon will be watching how these structural efforts line up with the near‑term de‑risking we saw in the sector today.

Euronext fine‑tunes its balance sheet

Finally, Euronext also reported the results of a tender offer for its 2026 euro bonds, noting that around €214.5 million in principal amount had been validly tendered by the 24 November, 5:00 p.m. CET deadline. ^[31]

The transaction is part of a broader effort to optimise the group’s debt profile as it absorbs new assets like ATHEX and invests in technology and infrastructure.

What today’s session means for French equity investors

From an investor’s perspective, the France stock market today offered several clear messages:

This looks like rotation, not panic.
A 0.29% slip in the CAC 40, with autos, banks and some tech names firmly in positive territory, points more to sector rotation than to a change in the overall bull‑market narrative. ^[32]
Defence stocks face headline risk after a huge run.
After years of outperformance, defence names are showing how sensitive they are to any whiff of peace in Ukraine. Short‑term volatility could remain high as negotiations evolve and investors reassess long‑term growth assumptions.
Buybacks and balance‑sheet repair are central themes.
From BNP Paribas and STMicro to Casino, JCDecaux, Waga Energy and Ayvens, corporate France is leaning heavily on share repurchases, liability‑management exercises and strategic deals to drive shareholder returns.
European market integration is quietly reshaping Paris.
Euronext’s consolidation of ATHEX and its new defence‑sector growth hub underline how Paris is embedded in a wider continental ecosystem — something that may matter increasingly for index composition, liquidity and cross‑border investment flows over the coming years.

The next catalysts for French stocks are likely to be:

The December Federal Reserve meeting, where markets are currently leaning toward at least one rate cut;
Further updates on the Ukraine peace framework;
Ongoing waves of buyback announcements and restructuring plans from French blue chips and mid‑caps.

For now, the France stock market today shows a Paris exchange that is still within striking distance of record highs, but increasingly driven by where capital rotates inside the index rather than by simple “risk‑on vs risk‑off” swings.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors should do their own research or consult a professional adviser before making investment decisions.

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