Elsewhere, the trend is the same: Frankfurt's DAX 40 falls 1.73%, London's FTSE 100 stumbles by 0.66%, and Madrid sheds 2.36%.
This downward trend is almost universal worldwide, as seen this morning in Tokyo, where the Nikkei, for example, dropped 1.35%.

Over the weekend, the United States and Israel struck Iran, which responded by launching missiles at the Jewish state and American bases in the region. The strikes notably succeeded in eliminating Ali Khamenei and several other leaders of the Islamic Republic.
Another consequence of this war: rising tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic maritime route for hydrocarbon trade.
As a result, oil prices are soaring. In London, North Sea Brent jumps 7.77% to 78.76 USD, and in New York, WTI is not far behind. Oil prices are at levels not seen in over a year.

Logically, companies like TotalEnergies stand out among the top performers. The French giant climbs 3.73%, Norway's Equinor gains 5.54% after also announcing the discovery of a major North Sea field, Spain's Repsol rises 3.78%, and Britain's Shell is up 3.28%.

Another sector also performing well is defense. In Paris, Thales records the biggest gain on the CAC 40 with an increase of 4.67%, as do Exail Technologies and Exosens, up 9.82% and 10.11% respectively. Elsewhere in Europe, BAE Systems rises 5.89%, Hensoldt advances 6.49%, Leonardo moves up 3.87%, and Rheinmetall gains 2.99%.

Maersk, meanwhile, is up 5.07%. The maritime transport specialist has logically rerouted its ships away from the conflict zone, which will lengthen shipping times, and some customers will want priority, allowing the Danish company to raise its prices.

Conversely, among the hardest-hit sectors is, unsurprisingly, the airline industry, whose kerosene bill is set to rise with higher oil prices, and which must also cancel flights in the Middle East region. IAG drops 5.39%, Lufthansa retreats 5.92%, and Air France-KLM loses 6.91%. The Franco-Dutch airline group is also suffering from a court decision forcing it to pay a 368-million-euro fine.

Tourism-related stocks are also affected, such as hotel group Accor, whose shares plummet 9.24%, marking the sharpest decline in the index.

Finally, luxury stocks are weighing heavily on the trend following an RBC note stating that their sales in the Middle East are likely to be affected by the ongoing conflict. Switzerland's Richemont falls 6.07%, and in Paris, LVMH and Kering drop 4.08% and 3.99% respectively.

Busy Macroeconomic News Cycle

With this war and the many movements it is causing in indices, stocks, commodities, etc., macroeconomic releases are taking a back seat.

Nevertheless, there is plenty of news with S&P Global's European manufacturing PMI indices for February. In France, the index fell, but less than expected, dropping from 51.2 to 50.1 points, whereas analysts feared a drop below 50, to 49.9, which would have signaled a contraction in activity.

In Germany, the same statistic indicated growth. The index reached 50.9 points, a level not seen in 44 months, up from 49.1 previously and above the estimated 50.7 points.

Finally, for the entire eurozone, this indicator was in line with expectations at 50.8 points, after 49.5 in January. Like the German index, at 50.8 points, the eurozone's figure is at a 44-month high.

Other statistics are scheduled this afternoon in the United States, also on February's manufacturing activity, but they are unlikely to affect the trend.

On the currency market, the euro is down against the greenback (-0.19%) and is trading at 1.1737 USD, its lowest in over a month.