BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks were moving lower on Friday after the leader of Italy's ruling League party, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, effectively pulled the plug on the coalition government, saying the only way forward was to hold fresh elections.
Trade worries also resurfaced after the Bloomberg said the White House is holding off on a decision about licenses for U.S. companies to restart business with Huawei Technologies Co.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 40 points or 0.74 percent at 5,347 after rallying as much as 2.3 percent on Thursday.
Banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale were down between half a percent and 1 percent as Italian government bond yields rose sharply ahead of a review of the country's sovereign credit rating by Fitch later in the day.
In economic releases, France's industrial output declined at the fastest pace in one-and-a-half years in June largely due to a sharp contraction in petroleum product manufacturing, statistical office Insee said in a report.
Industrial production fell 2.3 percent month-on-month in June, in contrast to a 2 percent rise in May. This was the biggest fall since January 2018 and was the first drop in three months.
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