Which exchange operates the CAC 40, France’s leading stock index?

Euronext Paris operates the CAC 40, France’s leading stock index.

The CAC 40 measures the performance of 40 major companies selected from shares traded on Euronext Paris. It is widely used as a snapshot of French large-cap equities and is one of Europe’s best-known market benchmarks.

Euronext Paris is the French arm of Euronext, a pan-European exchange group. Its history reaches back to the Paris Bourse, whose development helped establish Paris as a major European financial center. Euronext was formed in 2000 through the combination of the Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris exchanges.

The CAC name is commonly explained as an abbreviation connected with the former Compagnie des agents de change, while “40” refers to the index’s 40 constituents. The index is not the name of the exchange itself: Euronext Paris is the marketplace, and the CAC 40 is its flagship index.