BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks advanced on Monday amid expectations that a victory for U.S. President-elect Joe Biden in the election will help repair the battered relationship between the United States and Europe.
Biden reportedly topped the necessary 270 Electoral College votes, but President Donald Trump is yet to concede he has lost the key states. Analysts think that Trump's election lawsuits are unlikely to pass legal muster.
The upbeat news on the U.S. election overshadowed the latest reports suggesting that Europe is now reporting a far higher number of cases than during its previous peak.
France's economic activity was expected to be reduced by 12 percent of normal levels this month as a result of the new lockdown, the Bank of France said.
'Before the second wave we thought we'd have a recession of a bit less than 9 percent we now expect that for the whole of 2020 we will be between -9 and -10 percent, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on RTL radio.
The benchmark CAC 40 jumped 74 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,034 after losing half a percent on Friday.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX