The French market is notably lower in early afternoon trading Thursday, as downgrading of Greek bond ratings by Moody's Investors Service unnerved global markets, amid fears of moderation in growth.
Moody's Investors Service Wednesday downgraded Greece's local and foreign currency bond ratings deeper into junk status, citing heightened risk that the country will fail to stabilize its debt position without a debt restructuring.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chippers is declining 0.88 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is dropping 0.79 percent.
The CAC 40 index opened lower at 3,931, compared to the previous close of 3,965. The index is currently losing 1.12 percent.
Lender Natixis is plunging about 6 percent. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are declining 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Societe Generale is flat.
Peugeot and Renault are declining 4.5 percent and 1.8 percent, in that order.
France Telecom is falling 0.7 percent. Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the stock to 14 euros from 14.10 euros.
Builders Bouygues and Vinci are losing 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is declining 0.93 percent and the UK's FTSE 100 is losing 0.71 percent. Switzerland is closed for the Ascension Day holiday.
In economic news, British construction sector activity showed a solid expansion in May, data from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 54 from 53.3 in April. The expected reading for May was 53.5.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended firmly in the red. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 2.20 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated 1.40 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 1.58 percent and 1.69 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a slightly higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow plunged 2.2 percent, the Nasdaq dropped 2.3 percent and the S&P 500 plummeted 2.3 percent.
In the commodity space, crude is adding $0.23 to $100.52 per barrel and gold is rising $1.20 to $1544.40 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.