Tag: France

France is taking a small stake in Sanofi’s consumer healthcare business in order to quell a political backlash, as the pharmaceutical company presses ahead with a €16bn deal that would hand control of the unit to US private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

Harmonized consumer prices in the euro zone’s second-largest economy came in at 1.5% in September, down from 2.2% in August. The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is adjusted for comparison with other euro zone countries.

French consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, a slight increase from June’s 2.2-percent rate, largely due to higher energy prices, state statistical institute Insee said Wednesday.

French stocks and bonds initially slipped on Monday but then turned after voters surprisingly rejected a far-right party that led in the first round of voting, as the eurozone’s second-largest economy looked set for possibly months of protracted negotiations for control of the country’s legislature.

France’s National Rally surged into the lead in the first round of legislative elections, according to results released early Monday, bringing the far-right party to the brink of power and dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists in an election that could set the country, and Europe, on a starkly different course.

The euro fell vs. the British pound on Monday after European political turmoil that saw France call an unexpected election and Belgium’s prime minister resign.

Although both are in contraction territory, sentiment in the German economy is more optimistic.

Germany and France kicked off the third
quarter with contractions in their private-sector economies,
with sustained weakness in manufacturing seeing increased
spillover to services.

French inflation fell more than expected in May, on a slowdown of energy, food and services prices, though still remains stubbornly above the target set by the European Central Bank.