France’s Years of ‘Fiscal Murder’ Are Catching Up With It

Investors are shunning French debt over the country’s political gridlock and budgetary largess. 

A nation whose bonds were historically seen as a proxy for German bunds, the region’s safest asset, now finds itself diminished by a selloff.

Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
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France is waking up to a harsh reality: its fall from favor in the eyes of global investors is pointing to a long, painful and uncertain rehabilitation.

A nation whose bonds were historically seen as a proxy for German bunds, the region’s safest asset, now finds itself recast as a poster child for fiscal incontinence. Its debt yields are now aligned with Spain — and increasingly close to those of Italy.