CAC 40 Gains As Macron Prepares To Appoint New PM

(RTTNews) - French stocks eked out modest gains on Thursday as investors wait for President Emmanuel Macron to appoint a new prime minister.

Macron is seeking a political deal that would allow him to both name a new prime minister and "guarantee the stability of the country," a spokesperson for the outgoing government said Wednesday and insisted there was at the moment no "broader" political alliance than the current one between his centrist allies and conservatives from the Republicans party.

Investors also seek direction from a European Central Bank rate decision later in the day.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 12 points, or 0.2 percent, at 7,435 after closing 0.4 percent higher on Wednesday.

In corporate news, semiconductor company STMicroelectronics rose about 1 percent after forging a strategic collaboration with Quobly, a French quantum computing startup.