Courtesy of Mish
The ECB has held off purchasing sovereign debt bonds in Europe the past two weeks and the results were easily predictable. Yield on 10-Year Italian debt is back over 7%.
Italy 10-Year Government Bond Yield
ECB Buys Mere $25 Million in Bonds
Yahoo!Finance reports ECB buys few bonds for second week
The European Central Bank held its bond purchases to a bare €19 million ($24.8 million) this week.
The scant amount indicates that the bank has for now almost ceased the controversial program which has helped keep borrowing costs down for Italy and Spain.
It bought a minimal €3.36 million last week. That makes two weeks of near-negligible purchases, following €635 million the week ending Dec. 9 and €3.66 billion the week ending Dec. 2.
The program has helped keep Italy and Spain from financial disaster from high borrowing costs. But the ECB says it is of limited amount and duration and that it is up to governments to cut their deficits and not wait for a central bank bailout.
Portugal 10-Year Government Bond Yield
I expect Portugal to blow sky high at any time, but the yield stubbornly remains at or near an unsustainable 13 percent. Nonetheless, the upward trend is clear and it is only a matter of time before this blows.
