Investors raise alarm over impact of rising populism on European stocks

Political gridlock expected

Sorin Dojan
clock • 4 min read

The recent surge of political extremism in Europe after this year’s elections has sparked concerns among investors about the potential impact of "authoritarian risk" on the continent's stock markets.

In June this year, French president Emmanuel Macron's coalition of centrist parties took a beating at the polls, receiving short of 15% of votes in the European Parliament elections, significantly falling behind Marine le Pen's far right Rassemblement National (RN), which scored 31.3%. Immediately following the outcome, the French leader called for a snap parliamentary election in July with widespread concerns throughout the campaigns that the far-right would end up leading France. Investors spooked by political instability in Europe and US But the move actually gave way to a surpr...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Europe

ECB lowers interest rates to 2.75% amid stagnant growth and sticky inflation

ECB lowers interest rates to 2.75% amid stagnant growth and sticky inflation

Lowest rate since March 2023

Sorin Dojan
clock 30 January 2025 • 2 min read
European companies forecast to pay out record dividends in 2025

European companies forecast to pay out record dividends in 2025

Expected 4% rise to €459bn

Beth Brearley
clock 14 January 2025 • 1 min read
Moody's downgrades France's credit rating amid political crisis

Moody's downgrades France's credit rating amid political crisis

From 'Aa2' to 'Aa3'

Sorin Dojan
clock 16 December 2024 • 3 min read
Trustpilot