Asset management.

On Friday, September 12, Fitch downgraded France's sovereign rating from AA- to A+. The agency justified this decision on the grounds of a persistent deficit, public debt already at 114% of GDP and likely to reach 132% in 2034, and chronic political instability. At this level, France is approaching Italy's ratios, which are expected to reach 135%, while diverging from economies such as Spain and Belgium, whose trajectories appear more stable. This downgrade does not place France in a situation of immediate crisis, but it confirms the perception of relative weakness.

•    Disappointing job creations in the US convinced markets that the Fed had to revive the rate-cutting cycle.
•    The ECB, meanwhile, left its rates unchanged. The bank thinks risks to economic growth are now more finely balanced and is more confident on the eurozone's economic outlook.
•    Markets generally shrugged off a number of political and geopolitical tensions.

The political divide within the National Assembly left little doubt about the fate of the Bayrou government, and even though the latter wanted to believe in it until the end, the vote of confidence ultimately resulted in failure, hastening his resignation and the fall of his government. France thus finds itself in the same situation as last year after Mr. Barnier's departure and is expected to experience its 5th Prime Minister in three years, signaling the significant political instability characterizing the country since the beginning of E. Macron's second term. Faced with an unprecedented tripartition of the political landscape under the Fifth Republic, the president now has three options before him, which we present here in order of most to least likely according to us:

•    Despite the current political uncertainty, French government debt is still easily finding buyers, with the France’s treasury department successfully raising € 11bn. 
•    Fiscal risk weighed on the UK’s long bonds, with 30-year gilt yields reaching highs not seen since 1998.
•    US Treasury yields were under pressure this week, as the 30-year bond revisited 5% before poor economic data caused it to fall back.