There is no peace for the Italian spread. The yield differential between the ten-year Btp and the corresponding German Bund continues to travel around the psychological threshold of 400 basis points. The maximum value reached during the morning was 404 basis points, about half an hour after the opening. In the immediately following minutes, however, the tension on our bonds eased slightly again, allowing the spread to slip back below the 400 bps wall and settle at late morning on altitude 393.
Broadening our gaze to the European countries most in difficulty in terms of public debt, the spreads of Portugal and Greece, at 1.012 and 2.190 points respectively. Tension also on Spanish government bonds, whose differential continues to hover around 350 points. Far below France, which however continues to set the historical record since the introduction of the euro, at 119.
The doubts linked to the banks, heavily exposed to Athens, and above all the decision arrived a few days ago by Moody's, which placed the the transalpine rating (the prestigious triple A) in view of a possible downgrade.
