European markets set to open in negative territory as traders assess France news
France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a United Nations Summit on Palestinians at UN headquarters during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on September 22, 2025.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON — European stocks are expected to open in negative territory on Thursday, with all eyes on France again after President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he will pick a new prime minister in the next 48 hours.
The U.K.’s FTSE index is expected to open 0.5% lower, Germany’s DAX just below the flatline, France’s CAC 40 down 0.17% and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 0.2%, according to data from IG.
Regional markets closed higher on Wednesday, as investors reacted to proposed tariffs on steel imported into the European Union. The bloc announced plans on Tuesday to reduce tariff-free quotas on imported steel, and to hike tariffs from 25% to 50% on any excess imports.
Market attention turns to France again Thursday after Macron said last night that he will name a new prime minister in the next 48 hours, following the resignation of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Monday. Macron is being urged to pick a PM who is not another centrist ally.
Macron had given Lecornu 48 hours to speak to rival parties about finding a way out of the political deadlock which has gripped France, and a way to avoid dissolving parliament and calling new elections.
Lecornu said a majority of lawmakers opposed dissolving parliament and that a platform for stability exists. Speaking on Wednesday, Lecornu said he believed it would be possible to have a budget in place by the end of the year.
In Asia Pacific markets overnight, shares of SoftBank jumped as much as 13% a day after the Japanese giant announced a deal to buy the robotics division of Swiss engineering firm ABB for $5.4 billion, further advancing SoftBank’s AI footprint.
In the U.S., S&P 500 futures were up slightly on Wednesday night after the benchmark index rose to all-time highs yesterday.
In Wednesday’s gains, the S&P 500 notched its eighth winning day of the last nine. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed more than 1% to end above the 23,000 mark for the first time ever.
The Dow, on the other hand, finished slightly below flat as blue-chip stocks lagged. But Nvidia helped the 30-stock index restrict losses, rising more than 2% after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that computing demand has “gone up substantially” this year.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Nur Hikmah Md Ali contributed to this market report.
Source – CNBC
