Following mass riots, France debt interest soars to 4.94%, reaching risk levels not seen since 2012– rmx.news

Investors sold off French government bonds after a weekend of violent protests, pushing the yield on the country’s 10-year debt as high as 4.94 percent on Monday and widening the premium over German bonds toward levels last seen during the eurozone debt crisis.

With some of the most violent images of the protest involving predominately migrant youths, the social unrest crisis and decades of mass immigration could actually lead to a debt crisis as well.

The sell-off followed days of unrest over the cost of living and conditions in schools that turned into riots, with thousands of arrests, looted shops and damaged public buildings across France, according to French news outlet BFMTV.

Yields rise when bond prices fall, and the jump in French borrowing costs reflected investor concern that the disorder would make it harder for the government to reduce its large deficit and debt.

The gap between French and German 10-year yields, a key measure of the risk premium on French debt, widened sharply and approached or reached its highest level since 2012, according to market data. fSome accounts put the French 10-year yield’s rise at as much as 16 basis points on the day, leaving it near multi-decade highs.