The Paris stock exchange slipped on Friday, June 14, towards its worst week in more than two years and the euro fell, dragging down other European markets as investors fret over France's looming snap election.

The French capital's benchmark CAC 40 stocks index tanked by more than 3% in afternoon deals on Friday. It was down more than 6% for the week, closing in on its worst performance since March 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Milan stock exchange sank 3%, while the Frankfurt DAX shed 1.1%. Outside the eurozone, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.1%. The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0669.

In another sign of investors' concerns about the June 30 election, the yield on 10-year French sovereign bonds rose and the difference with Germany's own borrowing costs widened the most in years.

European markets have been roiled by French President Emmanuel Macron's stunning decision to call legislative elections after his alliance was trounced by Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National in last week's European Parliament elections. Macron's election gambit has sparked a period of political uncertainty in Europe's second-biggest economy and across the European Union, where voting elsewhere saw a shift away from the center.

All of France's major left-wing parties came together to form an alliance, and presented a common platform on Friday, while Le Pen pledged a national unity government if her party wins.

Across the Atlantic, Wall Street's broad-based S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq retreated after hitting record highs, following news of slowing inflation and Federal Reserve signals of an interest-rate cut later this year.

In Asia on Friday, the yen dropped against the dollar and Japanese shares rose after the Bank of Japan said it would trim its vast hoard of government bonds as part of a cautious move away from its long-running ultra-loose monetary policy. The central bank also kept interest rates unchanged after a two-day meeting.