France will come to market...>

FRANCE AUCTION PREVIEW: France will come to market on Thursday to sell

E8.0-9.0bln in nominal bonds and E1.0-1.5bln in linkers, which together will

account for the majority of this week's EGB issuance. On offer are the 0.00%

Feb-22 OAT, 0.00% Mar-25 OAT, 2.10% Jul-23 OATi, 0.10% Mar-29 OATEi and the

0.10% Jul-36 OATEi.

- BACKGROUND: Amount sold/average yield/bid-to-cover at last auction: 0.00%

Feb-22 OAT (E4.2bln / 0.43% / 3.76x); 0.00% Mar-25 OAT (E3.8bln / -0.08% /

2.66x); 2.10% Jul-23 OATi (E0.86bln / -0.98% / 1.85x); 0.10% Mar-29 OATEi

(E2.04bln / -0.81% / 2.00x); 0.10% Jul-36 OATEi (E0.33bln / -0.19% / 2.61x).

- RV/HISTORY: French OATs have continued to rally in May and the curve has

flattened as concerns around global trade and the regional economic outlook have

resurfaced. Meanwhile, French breakevens have inched higher, with the 5-year

benchmark pushing up to 0.869% from 0.626% at the beginning of the year, which

potentially reflected an overly pessimistic inflation projection at the time. 

- TIMING: Results for the OAT auctions are due shortly after 0950BST, with

linker results out an hour later.