Shares of French supermarket owner Carrefour stumbled on Thursday, surrendering gains after France’s finance minister objected to a proposed foreign takeover.
Carrefour
CA,
-6.39%
shares stumbled 6% in early action, after surging 13% when Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard
ATD.B,
-10.19%
said it was in early-stage takeover talks.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said in a television interview that the country’s “food sovereignty” was at stake. He said “at first glance” that he did not favor the deal.
European stocks more broadly advanced, with the Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
+0.47%
up 0.4% and the French CAC 40
PX1,
+0.39%
modestly higher despite the Carrefour decline.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.35%
rose 106 points.
The gains came after CNN reported that President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to speak in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday, will outline a $2 trillion proposal that will include more direct payments to American families and significant state and local funding. CNN’s report sent the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury higher.
The U.S. abandoned the idea of forcing U.S. investors to divest Chinese internet giants Alibaba
BABA,
+4.30%
and Tencent
700,
+5.62%.
Investment group Prosus
PRX,
+4.57%,
which holds about a third of Tencent, gained 4% in Amsterdam.
Renault
RNO,
-1.05%
traded lower as the French automobile maker presented its strategic plan called “Renaulution” to boost profitability. It plans to boost its presence in Latin America and India, launch at least 10 new electric vehicles, and develop “new profit pools from data, mobility and energy-related services.”
