French government collapse, crackdowns in Georgia and bitcoin goes to the moon

Andrew Sheves Good morning.

The French government collapsed after far-right and far-left parties united in a vote of no confidence, forcing out Prime Minister Michel Barnier. What happens next is unclear. Elections cannot be called until July leaving President Macron to try to establish some form of functional government within the existing Assembly, where the three main groups are riven by differences. [SOURCE and long read - Bloomberg]

Events are escalating in Georgia, where the country is about to enter its second week of protests against the suspension of EU ascension talks. On Wednesday, several opposition figures were forcibly arrested in Tbilisi. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has vowed to take a hard line against the protests and shows no indication of backing down from his anti-European stance, despite the protests and resignations of senior party figures and some Ambassadors. [SOURCE - BBC]

China cut off exports of some rare earth minerals to America in response to another round of restrictions on hi-tech equipment exports from the US to China. These export restrictions are on a national security basis, but China remains the world’s largest producer of these minerals, which are critical to the semiconductor industry. [Source - Al Jazeera]

(Our deep Dive report on rare earth minerals is here, although note that it is from February, so the country ratings may have changed. I will public an updated version of this and other research reports soon.)

There was more evidence of the ‘Trump Trade’ as Bitcoin broke the $100,000 barrier following President-elect Trump’s nomination of a pro-crypto head for the SEC. [SOURCE - Bloomberg]

Lawmakers in Seoul will vote on Saturday to impeach President Yoon after his short-lived imposition of martial law. The current turbulence in normally stable South Korea is causing significant uncertainty. [SOURCE - Al Jazeera]

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Commodity and Rate Snapshot

🛢️** Crude Futures (WTI)**

$68.21

💵 **USD:EUR **

$1.053 (Price of 1EUR in USD)

₿ Bitcoin

$102,708

As at Dec 5, 07:00ET -Data is illustrative, not for decision-making.

Financial data via Bloomberg, Freightos and AlphaVantage

Asia Stabi

Carpe tomorrow!