France

French inflation was stable at the beginning of the year, figures showed Friday, a day after the European Central Bank again lowered its key interest rates amid a eurozone economy going nowhere fast, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 1.8% higher on year in January, the same rate as in December, according to EU-harmomized numbers published by France’s statistics authority. That was a little less than economists had expected, according to a poll compiled by The Wall Street Journal, and keeps inflation below the 2% threshold targeted by the ECB.

French investigators said on Tuesday they had opened a judicial probe into money laundering, tax fraud and other charges at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Reuters reported. The economic and financial crime section of the Paris public prosecutor's office (JUNALCO) said in a statement that the probe includes money laundering in connection with drug trafficking. The investigation is examining the period from 2019 to 2024, involving offences committed in France but also in all European Union countries, JUNALCO said.

Angell, a French smart electric bike startup, has announced in an email to customers that the company is declaring insolvency and approaching a court to ask for judicial liquidation, TechCrunch.com reported. “It’s over for Angell,” said company co-founder and CEO Marc Simoncini on Instagram.

The number of unemployed people in France climbed sharply in the last months of 2024 as a chilly economic environment and enduring political uncertainty took their toll on the country’s labor market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The total of jobless people rose 4% to 2.93 million in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter, figures from national jobs agency France Travail showed Monday. The rise was particularly steep among workers younger than 25, the figures showed.

Altice France’s creditors are demanding the return of shuffled assets and a say in future board appointments as part of negotiations with the company over its €23.7 billion ($24.4 billion) debt pile, Bloomberg Law reported. A group of secured creditors in talks with the distressed telecommunications firm is seeking a return of assets to an entity within their reach and the right to appoint independent directors to the company’s board.

Any moves to pursue financial deregulation by the incoming U.S. administration would increase the risk of a financial crisis occurring one day, France's central bank governor warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to office has raised the prospect of radical changes to the U.S. regulatory framework built up over decades to oversee financial services and banking, as well as digital currencies.

French factory production recovered a little toward the end of last year in a glimpse of optimism for the beleaguered sector, the Wall Street Journal reported. Manufacturing output rose 0.2% on month in November, figures from French statistics agency Insee showed Friday. That came against expectations for a third-straight month of decline in production, according to economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal.

Atos said that it completed its financial restructuring, resulting in a more sustainable capital structure and much-needed liquidity for the beleaguered group, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The French IT company on Thursday said that the implementation of the transactions in its safeguard plan reduced its gross debt by 2.1 billion euros ($2.17 billion). It now has 1.6 billion euros in new money debt and around 145 million euros of new money equity from a rights issue and an additional reserved capital increase.

Private-sector business activity in France shrank for a fourth month as the fall of the government over a budget dispute sapped confidence, Bloomberg News reported. S&P Global’s Composite Purchasing Managers Index came in at 46.7 in December, staying below the 50 threshold separating expansion from contraction. Still, it’s an improvement from last month and also a bit better than the median estimate among analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Manufacturing and services also stayed in contractionary territory, though the latter exceeded expectations.