France industrial production fell 0.3% MoM in August, driven mainly by a
pullback in power generation that offsets a 0.3% MoM rise in manufacturing.
July's output had been the strongest since 2021 and economists had expected a
slight increase for August. The print highlights continued weakness in the
eurozone's second-largest economy; France narrowly avoided recession in 1H and
now faces new headwinds. Markets worry the minority government may struggle to
rein in a widening fiscal deficit, a dynamic that has intensified sovereign bond
selling and pushed France's borrowing costs versus peers to levels not seen
since the eurozone debt crisis.
