French Bond Rout Upends Hierarchy in Europe’s Debt Markets
- Some French bonds yield more than lower-rated Portuguese paper
- Macron’s surprise call for snap vote roils nation’s markets
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The hierarchy of European sovereign debt markets is being reordered as a flareup in French political risk puts the nation’s bonds on par with those once at the heart of the region’s debt crisis.
French bonds, traditionally considered one of the safest assets in the euro area, sold off so sharply since President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections on Sunday that some now yield more than debt from Portugal and just a handful of basis points less than those issued by Spain.