French stocks drifted lower on Friday as U.S.-China tensions persisted and China\'s ruling Communist Party ended a top-level meeting without offering details to address economic difficulties.
According to media reports, the U.S. was considering stricter trade restrictions against China, especially the country\'s technology and chipmaking sectors.
A widespread Microsoft outage that hit services from airlines, banks and financial services also weighed on markets.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 38 points, or half a percent, at 7,548 after edging up 0.2 percent in the previous session.
The euro traded weak following dovish comments from ECB officials.
ECB Governing Council member and Bank of France President, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, said today there is more uncertainty on growth than a few months ago and that two additional interest-rate cuts in 2024 sound reasonable.
Similarly, ECB Governing Council member Gediminas Šimkus also said he agreed with the idea of having two more cuts this year as markets predict.