CAC 40 Index 2025: Latest Price, Overview & Market Impact

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a seasoned financial writer with over 15 years of Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. He specializes in economics and behavioral finance, holding a master's degree in economics from The New School for Social Research and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Adam is a CFA charterholder and holds FINRA Series 7, 55, and 63 licenses. Currently, he focuses on economic sociology and finance studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Understanding the CAC 40 Index

The CAC 40, short for Cotation Assistée en Continu meaning 'continuous assisted trading,' is France's leading stock market index. It tracks the 40 largest publicly traded French companies listed on Euronext Paris, ranked by free float-adjusted market capitalization. Established in December 1987 with a base value of 1,000, the index shifted in 2003 from total market capitalization to a free float methodology to better reflect market dynamics.

• The CAC 40 serves as the benchmark for equity performance on the Euronext Paris exchange.
• It includes the top 40 companies selected based on market cap, liquidity, trading volume, and financial strength.
• Due to the global operations of its constituent companies, the CAC 40 is a favored index among international investors seeking exposure to the French market.

How the CAC 40 Works

The index is capitalization-weighted, meaning companies with larger market caps have a greater influence on its movement. It covers the most liquid and significant stocks from the top 100 by market capitalization on Euronext Paris, similar in role to the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the U.S.

Notable companies in the CAC 40 include global leaders like L’Oréal, Renault, and Michelin. An independent committee reviews and updates the index composition quarterly, selecting the 40 companies with the highest free float market capitalization and share turnover over the previous year. If a company has multiple share classes, only the most actively traded class is included.

Significance and Market Impact of the CAC 40

The CAC 40 is a core component of Euronext, the pan-European exchange formed in 2000 through the merger of Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris stock exchanges. In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York Stock Exchange Group, creating NYSE Euronext. Today, Euronext operates exchanges across six countries, hosting nearly 4,000 listed companies with a combined market capitalization exceeding $30 trillion.

Market capitalization, or market cap, is a key metric representing a company's total stock market value, calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the current share price. Investors use market cap to assess company size and risk, helping diversify portfolios across different company scales.

Trading the CAC 40 in 2024

Investors can gain exposure to the CAC 40 through various exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the index, including:

• Lyxor ETF CAC 40 (Ticker: CAC)
• EasyETF CAC 40 (Ticker: E40)
• Amundi ETF CAC 40 (Ticker: C40)
• DBXT CAC 40 (Ticker: X40)
• ComStage ETF CAC 40 (Ticker: PC40)

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