Paris overtook London in the competition to host Europe’s biggest stock market on Monday, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The strong performance by luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci combined with hopes that as China reopens from pandemic restrictions Chinese shoppers will be eager to spend money, to produce the French surge that put the nation’s market over the top.

French equities now total $2.823 trillion, compared to the $2.821 trillion of equities listed on the UK exchange, according to Bloomberg. In 2016, the UK had $1.5 trillion over France when it voted to exit the European Union.

Former Bank of England official Michael Saunders told Bloomberg TV in an interview that it was the Brexit vote, and not Liz Truss’ mini-budget which tipped the balance.

He said, “The UK economy as a whole has been permanently damaged by Brexit. The need for tax rises and spending cuts wouldn’t be there if Brexit hadn’t reduced the economy’s potential output so much.”

Although Britain’s blue-chip stocks have only fallen 0.4% so far this year, the British FTSE 250 index has been hammered, falling 17%, primarily due to falls in mid-capitalization shares of consumer-oriented brands, and retailers.

At the same time, France’s luxury brands, such as Kering SA – the owners of Gucci, and LVMH SE have done “well” amid global recession concerns. LVMH, owners of Louis Vuitton, valued at $360 billion, have had “record sales” in the United States, and have predicted a good fourth quarter in the Chinese markets.

On top of all of this, the British pound sterling has dropped 13% vs the dollar, while the euro is only down 9.2%. That cut the value of the British exchange’s total valuation more than the French’s, given the value of both exchanges is measured in US dollars.