l barely expand this year. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent. France's election results come as the European debt crisis has flared again after months of relative quiet. Many analysts question whether Italy and Spain can stick to steep budget cuts and labor market reforms that they have promised to get their finances in order and jump-start economic growth. Europe's financial problems have repeatedly roiled U.S. stock markets in the past two years. The European Union is the United States' largest trading partner and a financial meltdown in the region would cut into U.S. exports and reduce factory production. U.S. banks would also likely pull back on lending to preserve cash in response to a worsening financial crisis. Italian and Spanish bond yields, after falling earlier this year, have risen in recent weeks. That indicates investors see the bonds as riskier and are demanding higher rates to buy them. The renewed fears about Italy and Spain make it a particularly risky time for France and Germany to disagree over how to resolve the debt crisis, economists said. "It raises uncertainty,toms outlet, and markets never like uncertainty," Bryson said. That increased risk, in turn, makes it more likely that investors in the U.S. and around the world will shift money to safer assets U.S. and German government bonds, for example and away from riskier holdings, such as stocks. Bonds from highly indebted European countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, are also likely to take a hit. Hollande's campaign promises, such as his commitment to lower France's retirement age, could worsen the country's budget deficit. And his pledge to raise the top tax rate for the wealthiest in France to 75 percent would slow the country's economy, economists say,cheap toms shoes. That would make it harder to generate the tax revenue to pay off its debts. Hollande also uses anti-free market rhetoric that could also alienate investors. In a rally last week, he pledged to be a president "stronger than the markets, stronger than finance." There are already some signs that investors are worried about the election's ultimate outcome. Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG, an institutional brokerage, said that yields on France's 2-year bonds have jumped in recent weeks. Currently, 10-year French government bonds yield about 3 percent, Greenhaus said, after creeping up a bit recently. That's much lower Italian and Spanish 10-year debt, where yields are just below 6 percent. But the gap between French and German bond yields has widened steadily since last summer,cheap toms. Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ. An insider's guide to politics and policy, available on the iPad or as a PDF download.
By EDITH M. LEDERER and SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press LUXEMBOURG (AP) The European Union on Monday banned the sale of luxury goods and products to Syria that can have military as well as civilian uses as the U.N. political chief demanded that the Syrian government stop
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