French spending boost toEuropean stock markets

European stock markets experienced extreme volatility during the second half of 2001 but have been buoyed by news that French consumer spending during December was double that expected. The level of volatility is indicated by the performance of the Bloomberg 500 index, which fell 13.01% in euro terms over the course of the past year but rose 13.02% from the end of September to the end of December. Alia Beg, manager of Axa's European Opportunities fund, believes the French consumer spending figures are not as surprising as some analysts have made out. Beg says: 'Consumption in Eur...