Investors raise alarm over impact of rising populism on European stocks

Political gridlock expected

The recent surge of political extremism in Europe after this year’s elections has sparked concerns among investors about the potential impact of "authoritarian risk" on the continent's stock markets.

In June this year, French president Emmanuel Macron's coalition of centrist parties took a beating at the polls, receiving short of 15% of votes in the European Parliament elections, significantly falling behind Marine le Pen's far right Rassemblement National (RN), which scored 31.3%. Immediately following the outcome, the French leader called for a snap parliamentary election in July with widespread concerns throughout the campaigns that the far-right would end up leading France. Investors spooked by political instability in Europe and US But the move actually gave way to a surpr...