The euro slid to its weakest against the pound since June last year as France's
deepening fiscal crisis and fresh regional political risk weighed. EUR/GBP fell
about 0.4% to 0.8449, breaching this year’s July low. EUR/USD earlier hit a
17-month low and the euro underperformed most G10 currencies on Wednesday.
France is facing rising bond-market stress after missing deficit targets, policy
deadlock and the prospect of major policy shifts ahead of next year’s
presidential election, hitting investor confidence. Far-right presidential
candidate Marine Le Pen urged the ECB to intervene to lower rapidly rising
government funding costs. Turmoil has spilled into European government bonds
after a large sell-off last week reminiscent of the euro-area debt crisis.
