France's preliminary Composite PMI for October plummeted to 48.4, significantly below the expected 50.3 and falling below the 50-point threshold separating expansion from contraction. Both the services and manufacturing sectors contracted, dragging the Eurozone's preliminary Composite PMI for October down to 51.9, worse than the anticipated 52.7. Joe Hayes, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, stated that French business sentiment regarding the next 12 months has fallen to a six-and-a-half-year low. Impacted by this, France's benchmark government bond yield touched 5% this week for the first time since 2002, and the France-Germany spread widened to approximately 175 basis points, the widest since 2011. Franklin Templeton's head of fixed income warned that if the sell-off in French bonds escalates into a Eurozone debt crisis, its intensity could surpass that of the crisis over a decade ago.