Weekend riots in France over budget cuts hit French stocks and bonds Monday: CAC 40 -1.2%, 10-year OAT yield up ~7bp
What happened
France endured its worst unrest in years over the weekend as nationwide protests over high living costs, declining public services, and the government's planned spending cuts turned violent. The interior ministry said about 550,000 people marched in scores of cities on Saturday (union estimates put it at 800,000), with almost 2,400 arrests; violent fringe groups looted or damaged roughly 1,500 shops, burned Limoges city hall and the Lyon tourist office, and clashed with police. The retail federation put damage to shops at several hundred million euros. On Monday, French assets sold off: the CAC 40 fell 1.2%, the French 10-year OAT yield rose about 6-7 basis points to ~4.85%, and the euro slipped ~0.3% against the dollar.
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- French equities and sovereign debt directly: CAC 40 -1.2%, underperforming DAX (-0.7%) and FTSE 100 (-0.4%)
- Carrefour and Klepierre down after looting/vandalism. French 10-year OAT yield up ~6-7bp to ~4.845-4.849%, widening the OAT-Bund spread to ~143bp. Euro down ~0.3% vs USD
- Swiss franc at a 3-month high vs euro on safe-haven demand. U.S. equities only indirectly: U.S. futures were up Monday (Nasdaq +1.2%, S&P +0.7%) despite the French selloff, so the direct U.S. read-through is a risk-premium / safe-haven backdrop rather than a U.S. selloff driver.