EUROPE MARKETS: French Stocks Slide After Paris Attack Fuels Election Uncertainty
21 April 2017 - 10:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Eurozone PMIs rise to 6-year highs and beat forecasts
European stocks struggled for direction on Friday, with France's
benchmark index sliding after a suspected terror attack in Paris
just days ahead of a presidential election vote.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% to 378.50, trimming its
weekly loss to 0.6%.
The pan-European benchmark on Thursday rose 0.2%, buoyed by a
rally in French stocks. The CAC 40 index jumped 1.5%, its biggest
one-day percentage gain since early March. That rally in Paris came
as markets started to price in the prospect of a win for centrist
presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.
But on Friday, the CAC fell 0.4% to 5,058.24 after a gunman late
Thursday opened fire
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gunman-slain-after-killing-paris-police-officer-trump-suggests-terrorism-2017-04-20)
on the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris, killing a police officer
and wounding two others. The attack could give a late-campaign
surge in support for anti-immigration, far-right candidate Marine
Le Pen in the tight presidential race, analysts said. The first
round of voting takes place Sunday.
Read:When are the French election results out on Sunday?
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-are-the-french-election-results-out-on-sunday-2017-04-20)
"Last night's terrorist attack in Paris, which given the
tightness of the polls, could influence events, leaving investors
to face the prospect of a face-off between Marine Le Pen on the
right and Melenchon on the left. Any such outcome is unlikely to be
well received by the markets," said Michael Hewson, chief market
analyst at CMC Markets, in a note.
Le Pen has vowed to hold a referendum on France's membership of
the European Union, fueling fears of a breakup of the bloc. One of
her three key rivals, far-left euroskeptic Jean Luc Melenchon, has
also pledged to renegotiate EU treaties and hold a referendum.
Read:Here's how France's hotly contested election could rattle
markets
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-frances-hotly-contested-election-could-spark-market-turmoil-2017-04-19)
Individual benchmarks: Other European markets were largely flat
in Friday's trade. Germany's DAX 30 index was up 0.03% at
12,032.74, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% to
7,125.77.
Economic news: Preliminary readings on April purchasing
managers' indexes for the eurozone, France and Germany were all
released Friday morning.
All three flash readings for the eurozone -- the composite,
manufacturing and services PMIs -- rose to six-year highs and came
in better than forecast.
France's preliminary PMIs also beat expectations, with the
composite reading jumping to a 71-month high at 57.4.
For Germany, the manufacturing PMI came in slightly better than
expected, but the gauge of the services sector missed
forecasts.
Movers: Shares of Software AG (SOW.XE) jumped 4.5% after the
company reported a smaller-than-expected drop in underlying
earnings.
WS Atkins PLC (ATK.LN) rose 4.2% after SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.
(SNC.T) said it will buy the U.K. engineering company for GBP2.1
billion ($2.69 billion).
Shares in German soccer club Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co.
KGaA (BVB.XE) added 2.2%. The gain came after police charged a
Russian-German man
(https://www.wsj.com/articles/dortmund-bomb-suspect-bought-stock-options-on-soccer-attack-1492758515)
with being behind the bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus
last week, alleging he was hoping to make money on a drop in the
stock price.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 21, 2017 04:33 ET (08:33 GMT)
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