European stocks slip led by France as protests unsettle markets
Stocks fell on Monday, with French shares leading losses as violent protests over living costs and school conditions raised concern about the country’s debt…
European stocks slip led by France on Monday as violent protests over living costs and school conditions added to investor concerns about the country’s debt outlook. Oil prices also fell after US President Donald Trump waived a new package of energy sanctions on Russia, including measures affecting Russian energy.
Paris shares led the retreat, while European government bonds and the euro also came under selling pressure as trading progressed. The moves put renewed attention on how political unrest and elevated debt could shape investor sentiment across the region.
French unrest weighs on shares and bonds
In early trading, France’s CAC 40 fell 1.3% to 7,854.31. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.8% to 10,795.31, and Germany’s DAX lost 1% to 25,360.14, according to the Associated Press.
A later market update from the AP said indexes had fallen 1% across Europe, with Paris down 1.4%. The update followed violent protests over the weekend, which could put further pressure on European bond markets.
More than 2,000 people were arrested nationwide, the AP reported. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violent demonstrators in a televised address on Sunday.
Reporting by Yahoo Finance, citing the French interior ministry, put arrests at nearly 2,400 on Saturday and said almost 1,000 police were injured. The report described the unrest as some of the worst urban violence in France in years.
The protests came as lawmakers debated a 2027 budget plan calling for billions of euros in spending cuts while France’s debt levels remained extremely high, Yahoo Finance reported. Investors also sold bonds, a move that can add pressure to borrowing costs when a government already faces debt concerns.
In Italy, street clashes in Milan added to the pressure on regional markets. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was holding a security meeting on Monday to address the violence, according to Yahoo Finance.
Oil eases as investors watch earnings
Oil prices fell around 2% after Trump waived the sanctions package, according to the AP. Yahoo Finance also reported that the decision weighed on oil futures, alongside signs that supplies continued to leave the Middle East despite tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Saudi Arabian crude sites.
The drop in oil came as investors weighed risks beyond Europe. Technology shares had faced renewed selling from Asia to Wall Street, amid concern about whether heavy investment in artificial intelligence will generate returns.
“European shares were broadly weaker but France and Italy are getting the worst of it,” Saxo UK investor strategist Neil Wilson told Yahoo Finance.
Wilson also said upcoming earnings would matter for broader risk sentiment, with Meta in focus as the first of five major hyperscalers due to report, according to the outlet. In the United States, investors were also watching results from Meta, Netflix, General Motors, Tesla and IBM, the AP reported.
On Wall Street early Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%, recovering some losses from the previous week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 41 points. The S&P 500 had fallen 1.1% on Friday, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.1%, according to the AP.
Bond markets remained unsettled. Yields rose worldwide despite lower oil prices, the AP’s update said, while investors were looking to government bonds as a relatively safe asset amid uncertainty in technology shares.
Trading in Europe was still underway in the reports, and the next major market focus was the US corporate earnings due this week.
Source: twincities.com
