At the end of a very volatile session, the Paris Stock Exchange finally closed slightly higher. The Parisian index had to navigate between economic indicators reviving inflation fears and enthusiasm for technological stocks.
Long uncertain, the Paris Stock Exchange managed to close in the green on Wednesday, May 13, just a few points below its peak of the day, before two sessions where news from leading French listed companies could slow down due to Ascension.
The CAC 40 therefore concluded this choppy session with a 0.35% increase, narrowly missing the 8,000 points mark, ending at 8,007.97 points.
However, the news does not encourage risk-taking, with U.S. inflation data causing concerns. The expected 0.5% increase in production prices surprised the markets, rising by 1.4% in April after 0.7% in March. This is the largest increase since March 2022, at the start of the war in Ukraine.
On an annual basis, the production price increase is 6%, while consensus expected a 4.9% increase.
Caught off guard by higher-than-expected inflation, U.S. government bond yields on 10-year maturities rose to 4.48%, the highest since July 2025.
Geopolitics also naturally occupies investors’ minds. The diplomatic impasse in the Middle East continues on Wednesday, May 13, with the Iranian government ruling out amending its proposals to end the war permanently when President Donald Trump considers them “good for the trash bin.”
This is where President Donald Trump arrived in China, expecting to have a “long conversation” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the Iran war.
“The impressive tectonic geopolitics continues with Trump’s move to China, accompanied by a veritable fleet of leaders from the most influential American companies, including Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia,” said Antoine Andreani, head of research at XTB France.
“If such personalities are making the trip, it’s likely that an economic and strategic agreement has already been largely finalized, perhaps even for a long time,” he added.
“The market clearly continues to favor a scenario of strategic easing and a new structuring agreement between the United States and China,” Antoine Andreani concluded.
Nvidia also reached a new record on the New York Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization exceeding $5.5 trillion.
Technology sector stocks rebounded after Tuesday’s slump. In Paris, STMicroelectronics gained 9.8%, Soitec regained 7.7%, but it was Vallourec that topped the SBF 120 on Wednesday evening, with a 12.2% gain after a solid quarterly report deemed favorable by investors.
Despite opening sharply lower, Valneva regained 1.9% despite a downgrade on Wednesday, May 13 of its annual revenue forecasts, citing an emerging unfavorable trend in the adoption of travel vaccines in its key markets, linked to geopolitical factors.
Alstom gained 2% and Eiffage fell by 2.1% after their reports.
Aramis plummeted by 20.5% penalized for lowering its 2026 outlook.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro fell by 0.2% against the dollar to 1.1711. In terms of oil, the July contract for North Sea Brent fell 1.3% to $116.34 per barrel, while the June contract for WTI in New York dropped 0.5% to $101.88 per barrel.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2026 BFM Bourse
