CAC 40 Slides Ahead Of Powell’s Speech

French stocks fell notably on Wednesday, as renewed fears over a possible recession overshadowed recent optimism about China reopening.

Investors await the release of Eurozone’s consumer confidence data for June and a preliminary reading on German inflation for further direction.

Traders also seemed reluctant ahead of a speech by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at the Sintra forum, alongside Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Bank of England Governor Andrew Baile.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 37 points, or 0.6 percent, at 6,049 after rising 0.6 percent in the previous session.

EssilorLuxottica shares declined 2.5 percent. Leonardo Del Vecchio, the chairman of the eyeglass retailer and one of Italy’s wealthiest business figures, passed away at the age of 87.