French Debt Sales to Test Investor Demand Before Confidence Vote

French debt gained following the nation’s first bond sales since Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called for a confidence vote, signaling that investors are drawn to the high yields on offer even as political uncertainty persists.

The Treasury raised the targeted €11 billion ($12.8 billion) through auctions of debt maturing in 10- to 30-years on Thursday. Investors placed bids across all three bonds of 2.35 times the total amount sold, the lowest level of oversubscription since January, although the numbers were skewed by a tripling of the allocation to new 10-year notes.