Yields fall in Spanish and Greek auctions amid cautious optimism
BORROWING costs for Spain and Greece fell yesterday at treasury bill sales, a sign of cautious optimism that Europe will eventually deal with its debt crisis despite policymakers’ slow progress towards new measures.
The yield on Spain’s 12 and 18-month bills fell as much as 50 basis points compared to auctions in January, a mark of broadly better market sentiment. The Treasury sold €6.2bn of 12- and 18-month T-bills, the high end of its targeted range.
The 13-week Greek bill yield fell to 3.85 per cent but the premium demanded by investors on secondary markets to hold Greek over German debt widened to 860 basis points, 26 basis points on the day, as uncertainty continued to plague the southern Eurozone economies struggling most with high debt.