Euronext Today: CAC 40, AEX and Euronext 100 Edge Higher on Fed Rate Cut Bets

European equities listed on Euronext traded modestly higher on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, as investors leaned into expectations of a December U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut, digested fresh evidence of cheap European valuations, and reacted to a dense stream of tech, biotech and capital‑raising news across the continent.

From Paris to Amsterdam and Oslo, the tone was cautiously risk‑on rather than euphoric—a rally fueled more by falling discount rates and structural stories than by a sudden surge in growth optimism.

Euronext indices in the green by late morning

By late morning in Paris, France’s benchmark CAC 40 hovered just above the 8,000‑point line, trading around 8,049.6 points, up roughly 0.3% on the day. The broader SBF 120 gained a similar 0.3%, underscoring a fairly broad advance across French large and mid caps. ^[1]

On the pan‑European side, the Euronext 100 index – which aggregates 100 of the largest and most liquid stocks listed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris – rose about 0.4% to roughly 1,687 points, slightly outpacing the broader European benchmark. ^[2]

In the Netherlands, the AEX Index in Amsterdam traded around 935.6 points, up about 0.3%, while the AEX All‑Share added roughly 0.5%, reflecting gains beyond the biggest blue chips. ^[3]

Those moves broadly tracked the STOXX Europe 600, which sat near 569–570 points, up about 0.2–0.3% on the day after one of its strongest sessions in two weeks. ^[4]

Put simply: across the Euronext ecosystem, benchmark indices were in the green, but the rally was measured, not manic.

Macro backdrop: Fed cut hopes, Ukraine peace talks and the UK Budget

The main fuel for Wednesday’s drift higher was global macro rather than local headlines:

An Investing.com snapshot early in the European session showed Germany’s DAX up around 0.6%, the CAC 40 up about 0.6% and the FTSE 100 modestly positive, as markets priced in an over 80% probability that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at its 9–10 December meeting after softer U.S. retail sales and weaker consumer confidence data. ^[5]
A separate Reuters and Nasdaq read‑across highlighted hopes of progress toward a U.S‑brokered peace framework in Ukraine, with reports that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to the U.S. before the end of November to finalize an agreement. That prospect has been nudging European defense stocks lower this week, while supporting broader risk appetite. ^[6]
The UK Autumn Budget—due later on Wednesday from Chancellor Rachel Reeves—remained a wild card. Markets broadly expect a package of tax increases to stabilize public finances, which could weigh on UK growth but also justify additional Bank of England rate cuts in 2026. ^[7]

Reuters reported that sector leadership across Europe skewed toward financials, technology, mining, energy and defense, with banks up about 0.4% and tech stocks around 0.6% higher on the day—an environment that naturally favors Euronext’s heavily bank‑, industrial‑ and tech‑tilted indices. ^[8]

Paris spotlight: biotech rallies, Eutelsat rights issue weighs

Euronext Paris supplied many of the day’s most eye‑catching single‑stock stories.

Biotech names among SBF 120 leaders

A real‑time SBF 120 heatmap from French outlet Ideal‑Investisseur showed Forvia, Valneva, Abivax, Aperam and Soitec among the top performers by late morning, with gains in the 2–6% range. ^[9]

The standout catalyst was Valneva. The vaccine specialist announced positive final Phase 2 results for its Lyme disease vaccine candidate, news that triggered a sharp jump in the shares on Euronext Paris and reinforced investor appetite for Europe’s specialty biotech space. ^[10]

Abivax, another Paris‑listed biotech, also benefitted from renewed attention after being crowned Tech Champion at Euronext’s Tech Leaders Awards (more on that below), adding a narrative tailwind to the underlying clinical story. ^[11]

Eutelsat sinks as discounted rights begin trading

At the other end of the French leaderboard, satellite operator Eutelsat traded sharply lower, down roughly 3–4% intraday, as its shares began trading ex‑rights following the launch of a €670 million rights issue—part of a broader €1.5 billion equity raise to strengthen the balance sheet, refinance debt and fund its low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) growth plans and participation in Europe’s IRIS² constellation. ^[12]

Key details of the capital increase include:

Subscription price of €1.35 per new share
Ratio of 8 new shares for every 11 existing shares
Rights trading period on Euronext Paris from 26 November to 5 December 2025

The deep discount and the scale of the raise translate into meaningful short‑term dilution, which typically puts pressure on the underlying stock even if the strategic rationale is sound. For Euronext, the deal underscores Paris’s role as the primary funding venue for Europe’s satellite and space infrastructure ambitions.

Transgene still on investors’ radar

While trading in cancer‑immunotherapy company Transgene was suspended on Euronext Paris on Tuesday evening—pending a roughly €105 million capital increase—the stock remained a talking point on Wednesday as investors assessed the impact of the fundraising and timetable adjustments disclosed in multiple regulatory notices. ^[13]

The episode is a reminder that dilutive biotech fundraisings and temporary suspensions are part of the volatility tax paid by investors in early‑stage life sciences on Euronext’s Paris growth segment.

Tech and AI narrative: Euronext Tech Leaders Forum and sovereign AI deals

Beyond day‑to‑day index ticks, Wednesday brought a significant structural headline for Euronext’s technology franchise.

Euronext Tech Leaders Forum and 2025 Tech Pulse report

Euronext hosted the fourth Tech Leaders Forum across its core cities—Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris—bringing together around 400 participants from 12 countries and arranging 300 meetings between institutional investors and executives from 40 Euronext Tech Leaders companies, roughly 30% more than last year. ^[14]

Highlights from the accompanying 2025 Euronext Tech Pulse report and press materials:

The Euronext Tech Leaders segment now includes 110 European companies listed on Euronext markets. ^[15]
Combined market capitalization of Euronext‑listed Tech companies now exceeds €1.4 trillion, with Tech names representing more than one in three companies listed on Euronext. ^[16]
The Euronext Tech Leaders Index is up about 24% year‑to‑date, comfortably outpacing many broad European benchmarks. ^[17]
In 2025, Tech accounted for almost 40% of all new listings on Euronext, underlining the group’s pitch as Europe’s primary growth‑equity venue. ^[18]

Awards handed out at the Forum further showcased the depth of Euronext’s growth pipeline:

Abivax (Euronext Paris) – Tech Champion Award for standout biotech innovation and market performance
Exail Technologies (Euronext Paris) – Market Performance Award after a roughly +360% share price gain this year
Materialise (newly listed on Euronext Brussels) – Listing Award after its November flotation
Mistral AI – Fundraising Award for its €1.7 billion Series C round, backed in part by ASML, a key name on Euronext Amsterdam ^[19]

From an Euronext‑market perspective, these developments matter because they anchor high‑growth European tech champions locally, rather than seeing them migrate to U.S. exchanges.

Dassault Systèmes and Mistral AI deepen “sovereign AI” partnership

In a separate but thematically linked announcement, Dassault Systèmes (listed on Euronext Paris) and French AI start‑up Mistral AI said they are deepening their strategic partnership. Mistral’s enterprise assistant “Le Chat Enterprise” and its “AI Studio” platform will now run on Dassault’s OUTSCALE sovereign cloud, promising high‑performance models with strict European data‑protection standards for regulated industries and government. ^[20]

The deal gives Euronext investors another concrete AI‑infrastructure story anchored in Europe, and it dovetails neatly with the Tech Leaders narrative of a continent trying to build a competitive, regulation‑compliant AI stack without outsourcing everything to U.S. hyperscalers.

Brussels and Oslo: CMB.TECH earnings highlight shipping and energy themes

Away from Paris, Euronext’s northern markets delivered notable news in shipping and energy.

Antwerp‑based maritime group CMB.TECH—listed on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Oslo Børs—reported Q3 2025 results that showcased both the cyclicality and the structural transition underway in global shipping. ^[21]

Key data points from the company’s unaudited figures:

Q3 2025 profit of USD 17.3 million, with EBITDA of USD 238.4 million
A contract backlog standing at USD 2.95 billion
Plans to propose an interim dividend of USD 0.05 per share, expected around mid‑January 2026 (subject to usual approvals) ^[22]

Operationally, CMB.TECH highlighted:

Delivery of seven new vessels across dry bulk, tankers and offshore wind service fleets
Several ship disposals generating capital gains as the group continues to rejuvenate and decarbonise its fleet
Ongoing expansion of its hydrogen and ammonia‑fuel solutions business ^[23]

For Euronext investors, the CMB.TECH story sits at the intersection of energy transition, shipping cycles and Nordic market depth, reinforcing Oslo’s positioning as the group’s hub for maritime and offshore capital markets activity. ^[24]

Euronext N.V.: shares firm as bond buyback and Athens deal reshape the balance sheet

Euronext itself—now a CAC 40 constituent since September 2025—also attracted attention.

Equity performance and bond buyback

Mid‑morning quotes compiled by Ideal‑Investisseur showed Euronext N.V. trading near €131.6, up roughly 0.7%, placing the stock among the stronger names in France’s SBF 120 on Wednesday. ^[25]

That move followed news that Euronext has completed a buyback offer on its €600 million bonds maturing in 2026, repurchasing around €214.5 million in principal, with about €385.5 million left outstanding and settlement scheduled for 27 November 2025. ^[26]

The transaction forms part of a broader optimization of the group’s capital structure, alongside a recently announced €250 million share repurchase programme and solid Q3 2025 results, as flagged in the company’s investor materials. ^[27]

Athens Stock Exchange acquisition: Euronext’s footprint gets bigger

Strategically, the biggest medium‑term development is Euronext’s successful voluntary share exchange offer for Hellenic Exchanges–ATHEX Stock Exchange S.A., which closed earlier this month:

Euronext secured roughly 74% of ATHEX voting rights, comfortably above the 50%+1 share threshold
The group targets €12 million of annual run‑rate cash synergies by 2028, primarily via migration of Greek trading to the Optiq® platform and harmonisation of central functions
Euronext plans to establish a group‑level technology and support centre in Athens, explicitly betting on Greek talent and the growth potential of South‑Eastern Europe ^[28]

Combined with its existing exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris, Euronext now hosts over 1,700 listed issuers with about €6.5 trillion in market capitalisation and handles roughly 25% of European lit equity trading, according to company figures. ^[29]

For investors, that scale is part of the core Euronext equity thesis: a diversified, fee‑driven, pan‑European market infrastructure levered to both trading volumes and listing activity rather than to any single national economy.

Valuations and outlook: Reuters poll points to another 11% upside in 2026

Beyond the trading day, fresh survey data underscored why global investors are paying attention to Euronext and European equities in general.

A Reuters poll of equity strategists and portfolio managers published Wednesday suggested that:

The STOXX Europe 600—up around 12% so far in 2025—is expected to gain another 11% in 2026, potentially reaching 623 points, above its recent all‑time high.
The Euro STOXX 50 is forecast to rise about 6.7% to 5,900, while Germany’s DAX is seen climbing nearly 9.7% to 25,500 and France’s CAC 40 roughly 8% to 8,600 by the end of 2026. ^[30]

Strategists cited several reasons why European stocks still look relatively cheap versus the U.S.:

A persistent valuation discount on forward earnings multiples
Expectations for stronger European earnings growth in 2026 compared with 2025 ^[31]
Limited exposure to the most speculative edge of the global AI trade, which could make Europe more resilient if a U.S. tech bubble were to deflate ^[32]

For Euronext’s listed universe, that backdrop suggests room for further multiple expansion, especially in cyclicals, financials and “real economy” tech, provided macro conditions don’t deteriorate sharply.

What Euronext investors are watching next

For traders and longer‑term investors focused on Euronext markets, several near‑term catalysts now sit in the cross‑hairs:

The Fed’s 9–10 December meeting, where markets are heavily pricing in a first rate cut in this cycle ^[33]
The UK Autumn Budget and subsequent Bank of England messaging, which will shape sentiment toward UK‑exposed names listed on Euronext, especially in banking, utilities and consumer names ^[34]
Follow‑through price action in Eutelsat as its deeply discounted rights issue trades through to early December ^[35]
Ongoing integration of ATHEX and the evolution of Euronext’s Greek pipeline for listings, bonds and derivatives ^[36]
The reception of the Euronext Tech Pulse report and whether momentum in Tech Leaders constituents—such as Abivax, Exail Technologies and Materialise—can continue into year‑end ^[37]

For now, 26 November 2025 goes down as a quietly constructive day for the Euronext complex: indices grinding higher, liquidity flowing into biotech and tech growth stories, and the exchange group itself tightening up its balance sheet while extending its reach deeper into Europe.

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