France's government estimated that 550,000 people marched on October 17 over living costs and school conditions, below the CGT union's count of nearly 800,000. The protests, which began with school demonstrations in September, widened to cover living costs and public services, and some turned violent, including clashes and looting in Milan. France's prime minister ordered prefects to impose localized curfews, while separate protests took place in Italy and Portugal. Eurostat said euro-area annual inflation rose to 3.8% in September from 3.2% in August, with energy accounting for 1.71 percentage points, and inflation reached 5.0% in Spain, 4.2% in Italy, 3.6% in Portugal and 3.4% in France.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on econotimes.com ↗
Keywords
inflationprotestscost of livingEuropeeuro
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
EUR/USD
▼ Likely negativeRelevance: medium
| Market | Currencies |
|---|---|
| Close on 10/16/2026 | 1.12393 |
| Change that session | +0.16% |
DXY
▲ Likely positiveRelevance: low
| Market | Currencies |
|---|---|
| Close on 10/16/2026 | 101.78 |
| Change that session | -0.20% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- France in Turmoil : Nationwide Protests Escalate into Violence , Fires , and Looting
Protests over the rising cost of living in France escalated into nationwide unrest, with clashes with police, burning cars, looting of shops and attacks on town halls, Paris among the hardest hit. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 1,200 people had been arrested and 150 police officers injured, while the interior ministry estimated 550,000 marchers and the CGT union said 800,000. The town hall in Limoges, more than 140 years old, was largely destroyed by fire, and a 17-year-old lost his right hand to a crowd-control grenade in Saint-Etienne. The violence followed weeks of student protests six months before presidential elections, and President Macron vowed that those responsible for vandalism and looting would be prosecuted and punished.
- As France Explodes With Violent Riots , Islamic - Leftist Alliance Flexes Its Muscle Ahead of Elections
Violent protests in several French cities on Saturday saw rioters set fire to Lyon's historic tourism office, vandalize public buildings in Marseille, and damage shops and monuments in Paris. The article says an estimated 800,000 people joined the nationwide demonstrations, which brought together students, unionists, immigrants and Yellow Vest activists angry over living costs, and that hundreds were arrested. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu blamed the far-left and criminals ahead of next year's presidential election and accused La France Insoumise, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of exploiting the unrest for electoral purposes. The article reports that Mélenchon praised the student protests and proposed lowering the voting age to 16. It also notes that President Emmanuel Macron, who leaves office in 2027, cannot run for a third consecutive term.
- From France to Albania , social unrest is setting Europe streets ablaze
Weeks of protests across Europe, in France, Italy and Albania, have brought arrests, looting, injuries and violence, driven by rising fuel costs, underfunded schools, declining public services and a housing crisis. In France, high school students blockaded schools for more than three weeks before the CGT union joined, and weekend unrest led to 2,400 arrests and a fire that nearly destroyed Limoges City Hall. President Macron condemned the violence, while U.S. President Donald Trump wrote that migrants had “taken over France,” though French authorities and police have not blamed immigrants. In Spain, teachers began an indefinite strike in Madrid, housing tent camps have spread, and a snap election is set for November alongside the first general strike in 14 years. In Italy, inflation rose to 4.2% in September, above the eurozone's 3.8%, and the “Italia in Piazza” movement has mobilized thousands.
- From France to Albania, social unrest is setting Europe's streets ablaze
Rising fuel costs, discontent with school conditions, declining public services and a housing crisis have fueled an autumn of protests across Europe. The article cites rising food and fuel prices, a lack of education funding, weak public services and limited access to housing as the main drivers behind the unrest.
- France Cost-of-Living Protests: 4 Numbers That Help Explain the Anger
Protests in France began as student demonstrations over school conditions but have grown into a wider movement over the cost of living. France's monetary poverty rate reached 15.4% in 2024, its highest since 1996, affecting around 9.8 million people, with the threshold at €1,337 a month for a single person. Energy prices rose more than 60% between 2015 and the first half of 2026, with electricity up 43%, and fuel prices rising a further 30% from the end of 2025 to April 2026 as the war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz crisis sent costs soaring. According to Eurostat, 28.8% of people in France could not afford an unexpected expense without borrowing in 2025, and 41.1% lived in households with at least some difficulty making ends meet.
- Protests spread across Europe : Cost - of - living pressures behind the demonstrations
Thousands of people across Europe protested over the weekend against rising living costs, unaffordable housing, low wages and strained public services. In France, hundreds of thousands joined demonstrations, but some turned into looting and rioting that damaged about 1,500 shops, with the Retail and Trade Federation estimating costs of “several hundreds of millions of euros” and President Emmanuel Macron vowing to hold those responsible to account. Police clashed with demonstrators in Belgium, while Italy saw clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna, and Portugal’s unions called for higher wages, better pensions and affordable housing. Eurostat data analysed by Euronews Business shows EU food prices rose 34% between August 2021 and August 2026, and the food a minimum wage could buy fell 6% in Malta, 5% in Spain and 4% in France. The comparison excludes taxes, rent and other household costs.
Related markets
Latest news
- Tether: Senator's investigation misses positive work that's led to lower Iran volumes
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says a recent Senate Democrats report, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, missed the company's work to enforce sanctions. He claims Tether froze suspicious addresses on average 4 weeks before OFAC and NBCTF sanction designations, and before Chainalysis labelled them in 99% of cases since 2023. Ardoino says these actions led to Iran-linked stablecoin volumes declining by 94%. The Senate report, which described Tether as providing a significant financial lifeline within Iran's shadow banking network, said the company did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets before 2024. Blumenthal is also probing Tether's relationship with its U.S. financial partner, Cantor Fitzgerald.
- Sandisk, Datadog, Amazon Lead S&P 500 As AI Stocks Rebound
Western Digital, Sandisk, Datadog, Twilio and Amazon led the S&P 500 on Monday as AI-related stocks rebounded. Western Digital (WDC) rose 6.1% to 352.21, still below all its key moving averages, after plunging 16.4% last week. The hard-drive maker reports fiscal Q1 results late Thursday, kicking off a round of earnings for memory-related companies.
- Tesla Rises on a Foundry Agreement With Intel as JPMorgan Upgrades the Stock
Intel shares rose 4% and Tesla rose 3% after JPMorgan upgraded Intel to Neutral from Underweight and kept its $85 price target. Tesla committed to Intel's 14A process in April, and JPMorgan credits CEO Lip-Bu Tan's execution, expects positive EPS revisions, and sees its 2028 EPS estimate about 15% above consensus. The upgrade remains cautious: Intel is down about 36% from its June peak, its share of server CPU revenue has fallen from 77% to 53% since 2022, and its outside foundry business brought in barely $1 billion of annualized revenue in the first half of 2026. Intel's capital spending has exceeded operating cash every year since 2022, so the $20 billion stock sale and an anchor customer make the factory plan more fundable, though 14A won't reach high-volume production until 2028 and neither company has disclosed the deal's value. Intel reports third-quarter results on Oct. 29.
- What Crypto Bear Market? All of These Cryptocurrencies Have Skyrocketed in Value This Year
Bitcoin is down nearly 10% year-to-date, Ethereum is down 20% and XRP is down 30%, but several altcoins have risen sharply in 2026. Hyperliquid (HYPE) is up 210% for the year with a market cap of $20 billion, helped by the launch of spot ETFs, and Zcash (ZEC) is up 128%, with Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF attracting more than $500 million in under 30 days. NEAR Protocol, repositioned for the AI agent economy, is up 240% in 2026 but still down 75% from its January 2022 all-time high. Venice Token (VVV) is up 1,300% this year with a market cap just above $1 billion. The author favors Hyperliquid, citing its popularity overseas, the recent opening of the U.S. market to perpetual futures, and implicit support from the Trump administration.
- Nscale in talks for $45 billion Anthropic AI deal as IPO looms
Nscale is in talks to secure a computing deal worth about $45 billion with Anthropic, according to Bloomberg News, which could strengthen the Nvidia-backed data center developer's bid for a roughly $30 billion valuation in its planned IPO. The proposed agreement would cover a second building at Nscale's Monarch campus in West Virginia, delivering 460 megawatts of capacity powered by Nvidia's Vera Rubin chips, and could be finalized within days, though terms could still change. Anthropic already has infrastructure agreements with Nscale worth as much as $44.6 billion, according to Nscale's IPO filing, and holds a right of first refusal on the campus's anticipated third building. Investors are scrutinizing AI infrastructure economics, and Nscale faces questions similar to CoreWeave's about financing, execution and converting its backlog into cash flow, since its contracts are future commitments rather than collected cash. Representatives for Nscale and Anthropic declined to comment.
- A bad case of when your crypto thesis is based on one guy
Turkey confirmed the arrest of Hex founder Richard Hart, who was detained in Istanbul on October 14, and said police seized 7.15 million cash, six cold wallets, 28 watches, 300 bags and seven firearms during searches across 15 addresses. The detention relates to a Finnish Interpol red notice over suspicions of gross tax evasion and assault in Finland. Hart had an SCC civil case dismissed in 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the SCC declined to refile it. The speaker argues that investors who buy the token based on one founder face a sharp price drop if that person runs into legal trouble, and advises against investing just because of a founder.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.