Reuters first as EU drops EDF antitrust charges, shares rise

Reuters clients were the first to read that EU regulators were set to drop antitrust charges against French utility EDF in return for its pledge to open up the French retail power market on March 16. The European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, confirmed the Reuters report the next day. EDF shares doubled their gains to as much as 1.3 percent and also outperformed a 0.4 percent rise in the Stoxx Europe 600 utilities index after the report. French newspaper Les Echos sought to match the story but did not cite any sources. Bloomberg picked up the Les Echos report.