A Successful Large Bond Sale in Italy

The Euro may not be imploding even after the fears of Greece last week. Look no further than Italy, the biggest of the PIIGS nations by far.  Italy managed a bond sale this morning that was rather amazing if you consider the recent history.

The nation sold 5 billion Euros of a 2015 bond maturity at a rate of 2.76%.  That might not mean much when you consider how low the U.S. rates are, but that 2.76% compares to about 3.14% at the last auction and that appears to be the lowest bond yield in over a year for that sort of maturity.

The country minister after the bond sale has noted that Italy is not out of the crisis yet and that the aim is to still narrow spreads further for the nation.

Another 1 billion Euro worth of bonds were sold with a 2019 maturity and the total 6 billion Euro offering had bids of more than 7.8 billion Euros.

JON C. OGG