French Economy Braced for New Shock From Virus Lockdown

New measures to contain the coronavirus in France are slightly looser than in the first lockdown. Even so, Bloomberg Economics estimates that if the restrictions announced Wednesday last a month, they could strip a further 2% off fourth-quarter gross domestic product on top of the 1.1% decline already forecast, with risks clearly to the downside. Every week of enforced closures of hospitality and leisure venues -- trimming activity back to its April level -- is estimated to lower quarterly growth by about 0.2 percentage point.