CAC 40 Slides As Le Pen Threatens To Topple Government Over Budget
(RTTNews) - French stocks traded lower on Tuesday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on his first day in office to combat illegal immigration and drugs.
French political tensions also dented investor sentiment after far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Monday that she could bring down France's minority government by the end of the year unless changes are made to the country's budget bill.
Lawmakers from Le Pen's National Rally party would bring a confidence motion if the bill now being debated in parliament "stays as it is," she said.
The benchmark CAC 40 dropped 67 points, or 0.9 percent, to 7,190 after finishing marginally higher on Monday.
Automaker Renault fell nearly 2 percent while banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale were down 1-2 percent.