French Stocks Trade at Biggest Valuation Discount to Germany Since 2009

The discount is doing double duty here: it prices political risk and fiscal risk at the same time, and the weekend unrest is the kind of event that can reprice a market faster than any budget headline. What stands out is the comparison itself — capital is not leaving Europe, it is choosing Germany within Europe, which makes this a relative story rather than a broad risk-off one. The open question is whether the gap keeps widening as the presidential election approaches, or whether it narrows once the unrest fades and the focus returns to debt fundamentals.