World markets suffered a sell-off today amid fears that France and Holland will undermine a European treaty to tackle the debt crisis. Nicolas Sarkozy was beaten in the first round of the French presidential elections by socialist rival Francois Hollande, who plans to renegotiate an agreement on limiting government spending to tackle the debt crisis. In Holland, prime minister Mark Rutte tendered his government's resignation, paving the way for early elections after a minority party refused to back austerity plans. The turmoil wiped £27.6 billion from the value of the FTSE 100 Index. It fell nearly 2%, or 106.6 ... (full story)