CAC 40 Marginally Higher In Early Trade

French stocks were little changed on Tuesday as investors awaited U.S. inflation data later this week for more indications about the Fed’s policy outlook.

Closer home, France’s trade deficit widened to EUR 6.24 billion in April from EUR 6.14 billion in March, data published by customs office revealed. In the same period last year, the shortfall was EUR 4.54 billion.

Both exports and imports grew 1.6 percent each on a monthly basis in April. Year-on-year, exports advanced 17.4 percent and imports climbed 21 percent.

Separate data released by Bank of France showed that the current account deficit narrowed notably to EUR 1.4 billion in April from EUR 2.7 billion in March.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 9 points at 6,552 after gaining 0.4 percent the previous day.

Banks traded mixed, with Credit Agricole down more than 1 percent.