Yield on 10-year bond drops to euro-era low
Drops to 3.15%, spread under 160 points, lowest since June 2011
04 April, 17:01
(ANSA) - Rome, April 4 - The yield on Italy's 10-year State
bond dropped Friday to 3.15%, the lowest level since the
introduction of the euro. The previous low of 3.196% was set in
2005.
The spread between Italy's 10-year BTP and the ultra-safe
German bund dropped just below the 160-basis-points mark,
(159.5), the lowest since early June 2011.The bond spread is an important measure of investor confidence in Italy and of the country's borrowing costs.
Italy risked a Greek-style financial meltdown late in 2011 when the spread went over 500 points with yields above 7%.
The country's borrowing costs have been falling since Premier Matteo Renzi unseated his Democratic Party colleague Enrico Letta in February and took the helm of government promising to revive the economy and reform the country's slow and expensive political system.
