French stocks started the New Year deep in the red on Wednesday as growth worries intensified and the U.S. government shutdown entered its 12th day with no signs of a workable plan.
A private survey showed that China's manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in 19 months in December, due to ongoing trade frictions between the world's two largest economies. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.7 from 50.2 in November, adding to investor concerns over slowing growth.
Closer home, the benchmark CAC 40 was down 106 points or 2.24 percent at 4,624 in opening deals after climbing 1.1 percent in an abbreviated trading session on Monday.
Banks and automakers paced the declines, with Renault, Peugeot, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale all falling around 3 percent.
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