Let's now turn to France, to get an overview of their economy.
Overall, we see the same type of growth pattern as Germany; coming out of the recession France printed some OK numbers, but the economy has been slowing and is now just barely positive.
Industrial production's overall Y/O/Y growth has been negative for the entire year -- obviously not a good development.
Oddly enough, Y/O/Y percentage change in retail sales have been fairly decent.
There are two big deficit issues with the French economy: a budget deficit and current account deficit. As a result, France must continually be attractive to foreign investors in order to continue operating in this manner.
Despite the above mentioned deficits, notice that government bond yields are actually very low -- currently coming in at just over 2%.
The unemployment rate is big issue for obvious reasons.
However, inflation appears to be under control.
