Europe’s great stockmarket inversion
Sep 17th 2025|4 min read
It is one thing to face higher borrowing costs than other governments, but being charged more than even businesses in the country you govern marks a new low. France’s fiscal position has deteriorated so badly that this is the situation its politicians are now in. The yield on the country’s ten-year government bonds stands at 3.5%, against 3.3% for those of Greece—which in 2015 actually defaulted on the IMF. In a surreal turn the French government now also pays higher interest than some French firms, including LVMH and L’Oréal, on debt of similar maturity. These are, to be fair, globe-trotting giants with revenue streams that cross continents. It is still quite something that bondholders consider them less risky borrowers than the world’s seventh-largest economy.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Inside out”
From the September 20th 2025 edition
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