France under debt pressure: record interest rates reignite fears of a new euro crisis

France is discovering just how costly a lack of confidence can be, as the yields on its ten-year bonds briefly surpassed the 5% threshold, for the first time since 2002, while the spread against German bonds climbed to approximately 1.6 percentage points, the highest level in 15 years, according to an analysis by the German news outlet Tagesschau (part of the ARD 1 television network).