Podcasts · Patrick Boyle On Finance

The French Bond Market Is on Fire

11 Oct 2026 · 30 min · S6 E41

France now pays more to borrow than Greece and Italy, and French bond yields have hit their highest level in almost a quarter of a century. In this video, I look at why the French debt crisis is happening now: a global bond market selloff driven by AI spending and the Iran energy shock, a budget deficit of 5.4% of GDP, and a minority government trying to pass spending cuts while students blockade schools across the country. We look at why Italy, with more debt than France, can borrow more cheaply, what the primary balance tells bond investors, and what Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon are proposing ahead of next year’s presidential election. Finally, we ask whether the European Central Bank can step in with its Transmission Protection Instrument, and why the euro turns what would once have been a currency crisis into a slow squeeze.

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• https://www.patreon.com/PatrickBoyleOnFinance

The episode on the publisher’s site ↗ (opens in a new tab)