Shares of French supermarket owner Carrefour stumbled on Thursday, surrendering gains after France’s finance minister objected to a proposed foreign takeover.
Carrefour CA, -5.33% 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, +0.37% up 0.4% and the French CAC 40 PX1, +0.14% modestly higher despite the Carrefour decline.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0.24% 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 news is helping to support broader macro risk, with rates higher and commodities mostly higher but not explosively so,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategists at Axi.
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, +4.79%, which holds about a third of Tencent, gained 4% in Amsterdam.
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