French banks, energy, motorway stocks plunge after Macron calls snap elections
- French president’s bid to block Marine Le Pen’s path to power by calling snap elections rattled investors
Shares in BNP Paribas, France’s biggest bank, fell by close to 8 per cent at the opening and was trading 5.3 per cent lower on Monday afternoon, while shares in French lenders Credit Agricole and Societe Generale also suffered heavy losses.
The companies were among the biggest fallers on the pan-European STOXX 600 index, alongside French highway operators Eiffage and Vinci, which also traded around 5 per cent lower.
Macron’s unexpected decision could hand major political power to the far-right after years on the sidelines, and put Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party in charge of the domestic agenda, including economic policy.
Among policies put forward by the party, the RN has proposed higher public spending, despite already significant levels of French debt, threatening to further raise funding costs at French banks.
The RN has also proposed to nationalise French motorways to reduce road tolls by 15 per cent.