French stocks gave up early gains to turn flat on Thursday as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s promise to look past inflation raised long-dated bond yields and steepened the Treasury curve to new 5-1/2 year highs.
The dollar pushed higher helped by rising U.S. Treasury yields after the Federal Reserve said it expects inflation to rise to 2.4 percent in 2021, much higher than the target inflation rate of 2 percent, before slowing to 2 percent in 2022.
Investors worry that if inflation picks up, central banks might respond by raising interest rates, which would cool economic growth.
The benchmark CAC 40 was marginally higher at 6,057 after hitting as high as 6,082 earlier in the day. The index closed nearly unchanged on Wednesday.
Automaker Renault climbed 3.3 percent while banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale rose 1-2 percent.
CAC 40 Gives Up Early Gains
2021-03-18 09:03:03
