Business · Markets · 2 hrs ago
European shares fall as protests weigh on French stocks
European shares fell on Monday, with France and Italy among the weakest markets.
In France, the CAC 40 dropped about 1.3% after weekend protests over living costs and poor school conditions turned violent in some places.
More than 2,000 people were arrested across France, and President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence.
Stocks also declined in Britain and Germany, while European shares were pressured across financial and industrial companies.
Investors are watching a busy week of company earnings, including results from Meta, Netflix, Tesla and other major US firms.
Oil prices moved unevenly in market updates, with one report linking an earlier fall to President Donald Trump's waiver of sanctions on Russian energy; investors will continue to watch market moves and earnings this week.
European shares fell on Monday, with Milan and Paris among the weakest markets.
Milan’s market was down 1.5%, while Paris’s CAC 40 fell about 1.3%.
The declines came as markets reacted to weekend protests over the cost of living and as investors looked ahead to corporate earnings.
The wider Stoxx 600 index fell 0.75%, with financial and industrial shares under pressure.
- Who
- European stock markets and investors.
- What
- European shares fell, with Milan and Paris among the weakest markets.
- When
- Monday, October 19, 2026.
- Where
- European markets, including Milan, Paris, Frankfurt and London.
- Why
- Markets were watching protests over the cost of living and upcoming quarterly earnings. The sources also cited pressure on financial and industrial shares.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Protests over the cost of living took place in several European cities, with looting and vandalism reported in Milan and Paris.
European shares fell, with Milan down 1.5% and Paris down about 1.3%.
- Milan
- Down 1.5%
- Paris CAC 40
- Down 1.34% in ANSA; down 1.3% in BNN Bloomberg
- Stoxx 600
- Down 0.75%
- Frankfurt
- Down 1.11%
- London
- Down 0.88%
3 sources
What people are saying
We’ve been arguing for a while that volatility in tech stocks would pick up as the AI bubble continued to inflate: sharp and short-lived sell-offs were common as the ‘dotcom’ bubble inflated, for example, even as the market ultimately made very large gains on net