General view taken during the voting session on the draft of the Social Security bill 2025 at the National Assembly, the French Parliament's lower house, in Paris on December 2, 2024. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
London: Paris stocks wobbled and the euro fell Monday as a budget standoff in France fuelled concern about the eurozone's second-biggest economy.
Positive data from China helped boost equity markets elsewhere, with Germany's DAX index hitting a record above 19,900 points.
Oil prices rose on hopes of higher Chinese demand.
The euro sat near 14-month lows as opposition to France's belt-tightening draft budget threatens to topple the government.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier faces the risk of being deposed by a hostile parliament as his government presents a social security financing plan Monday that has the opposition up in arms.
Lacking a majority, Barnier used executive powers to force through the legislation without a vote.
The move exposes him to a no-confidence vote, likely on Wednesday, with the left wing and the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen saying they will back a motion bringing down the government.
Le Pen "has the power to destroy Barnier and his mission to get France on a sustainable fiscal track", said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.
The yield on French government debt rose in another sign of investor concern. France must now pay as much to borrow for 10 years as Greece.
Paris stocks, which wobbled in afternoon trading, ended the day flat.
They were also weighed down by Stellantis, the multi-brand auto giant, whose shares fell more than six percent after chief executive Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned.
Wall Street stocks opened higher after the Dow and S&P 500 both ended at record highs in a holiday-shortened session Friday, but the Dow turned lower in morning trading.
Sentiment was boosted by data showing the US holiday season is off to a good start. Sales on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving which kicks off the holiday shopping season, rose 3.4 percent compared with last year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.
Shares in Intel rose 5.8 percent after the chipmaker, which has struggled to tap into the growth of artificial intelligence that has fuelled the rise of rival Nvidia, announced that chief executive Pat Gelsinger had retired.
Asian traders began the month on the front foot after a rollercoaster ride since Donald Trump's re-election warning that he would hit China, Canada and Mexico with hefty tariffs on his first day in office as US president.
Hong Kong and Shanghai were among the best performers after data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity expanded at a faster clip than expected in November.
The purchasing managers index figures provided some hope that the world's number-two economy was turning a corner after a long-running slowdown, with analysts pointing to a raft of support measures unveiled at the end of September.
"The big unknown is whether the stimulus efforts will have a long-lasting effect or just a short-term boost," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
Tokyo rose and the yen held recent gains at around 150 per dollar on increasing bets of another Bank of Japan interest-rate increase after last week's forecast-topping Tokyo inflation report.
BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said in an interview with the Nikkei published Sunday that increases were "nearing in the sense that economic data are on track".
