The French market is notably lower in afternoon trading Monday, as European sovereign-debt worries persist with Fitch's downgrade of Greek debt and Standard & Poor's threat that it may cut Italy's credit rating. Unimpressive economic data from the region and falling U.S. index futures also weighed on the stocks.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chippers is declining 1.79 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 1.24 percent.
The CAC 40 index opened lower at 3,934 and is currently falling 1.83 percent.
Veolia Environnement is declining 7.8 percent. Suez Environnement is falling 1.8 percent.
Department stores operator PPR is dropping 5.25 percent. Oil giant Total is retreating 3.3 percent.
Among lenders, Credit Agricole is declining 2.7 percent, and Natixis is down 2.1 percent. Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are retreating 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
In construction stocks, Lafarge, Saint-Gobain, Bouygues and Vinci are notably down.
Carmakers Renault and Peugeot are declining 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
Outside the main index, Air France-KLM is falling 3.9 percent as concern about the impact of Iceland's volcanic eruption on air routes hurt airline stocks in the region. Also, Barclays lowered its price target on the stock to 15.50 euros from 16 euros.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is declining 1.80 percent and the UK's FTSE 100 is losing 1.55 percent. Switzerland's SMI is losing 1.20 percent.
In economic news, reports showed that private sector activity in May slowed in Germany and eurozone. Data released by Markit Economics and BME said the composite output index for Germany dropped to 56.4 in May from 59.2 in April. This was the weakest reading in seven months.
Meanwhile, the Markit Flash Composite Output Index fell more than expected to 55.4 in May from 57.8 in April, while economists expected 57.4. The deceleration in the rate of growth, as measured by the fall in the index, was the largest since November 2008.
Across Asia/Pacific, major markets retreated, as data revealed that growth in China's manufacturing sector eased to its lowest level in ten months. Survey results from Markit Economics showed that the flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 51.1 from 51.8 in April.
Australia's All Ordinaries declined 1.76 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.90 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.11 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 1.52 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages moved to the downside going into the close, ending the session firmly in negative territory. The Dow and the Nasdaq dropped 0.7 percent each and the S&P 500 slid 0.8 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $2.51 to $97.59 per barrel, while June gold is adding $0.8 to $1509.7 a troy ounce.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.