{"id":807448,"date":"2026-10-19T10:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807448\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:06:11","slug":"france-hit-by-debt-sell-off-as-protests-unnerve-investors-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807448\/","title":{"rendered":"France hit by debt sell-off as protests unnerve investors | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

France was hit by a fresh wave of selling in its bond and stock markets on Monday after violent protests <\/a>over the weekend left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops looted and thousands of arrests across the country.<\/p>\n

Almost 2,400 people have been arrested in France, the interior ministry said on Sunday, with police deploying teargas in confrontations with protesters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, condemned the \u201cunbridled violence\u201d in a televised address on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at these images, we all asked ourselves: what is going through their minds? How can French people do this to France<\/a>?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The chaos has spooked investors in France\u2019s government debt, with the yield on its 10-year yield rising by 10 basis points to 4.885%. Yields rise when prices fall.<\/p>\n

This widened the difference between the French and German 10-year borrowing costs \u2013 which is a metric for the risk premium attached to French debt.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the two-year yield rose by five basis points to 3.6%.<\/p>\n

Violence erupted across France after weeks of peaceful demonstrations over conditions in schools and the cost of living.<\/p>\n

While tens of thousands of people have attended peaceful marches to demand more teachers and repairs to decrepit schools, different groups have clashed with police in cities including Paris, Bordeaux, Nice and Marseille.<\/p>\n

Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank said the protests \u201cwon\u2019t make it easy for the international community to be totally comfortable buying OATs [French government bonds]\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWith France already facing a difficult fiscal backdrop and the 2027 election approaching, the weekend adds another layer of political risk for markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year bond, which is a benchmark for the French government\u2019s long-term cost of borrowing, rose by five basis points to 5.42%.<\/p>\n

The rise in borrowing costs will add further strain to France\u2019s public finances, as the government also tries to pass a budget for next year to rein in its deficit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s debt-to-GDP stood at 115.6% in 2025, while its budget deficit was 5.1%, compared with 94.3% and 4.3% for the UK respectively.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n

Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The unrest adds to \u201cconcerns about the political and fiscal troubles in France\u201d, said Neil Wilson, the Saxo UK investor strategist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt underscores how hard it will be for a government to enact the kind of spending restraint required to get the deficit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French government is preparing a budget that would involve cutting pensions spending and funding for government departments, excluding defence. However, there are growing fears that political pressure could derail these plans, which could push up borrowing and add more to the country\u2019s debt pile.<\/p>\n

The euro also slipped against the US dollar, down by 0.4% in early trading on Monday, falling to $1.1197.<\/p>\n

The French Cac 40, which tracks the biggest companies listed in Paris, fell by 1.2% in morning trading in Paris, compared with a 0.7% drop on the pan-European Stoxx Europe<\/a> 600 index.<\/p>\n

French bank stocks were among the fallers, with Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale and BNP Paribas down more than 2%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France was hit by a fresh wave of selling in its bond and stock markets on Monday after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-807448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}