From NAB:
The respite given to European periphery markets at the end of last week reversed overnight with pressure on equity markets in Europe and the US with particular pressure on the investment/bond/ banking markets of the troubled Euro periphery such as Spain and Italy’s.
Cyprus formally sought the financial support from European authorities for a bailout, a development that’s been mooted for a little period of time now. Greek Finance Minister Vassilis Rapanos resigned for health reasons ahead of negotiations with the Troika and the market is preparing itself to be underwhelmed by the outcome of the EU Leaders’ Summit at the end of the week. And just announced this morning, ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the ratings of 19 Spanish banks by one to two notches, citing the reduced creditworthiness of the Spanish sovereign.
There were flight to quality flows across bond markets with the likes of US Treasuries, German Bunds, French Oats, and UK gilts rallying but pressure on Euro periphery yields. For example the Spanish 10 year jagged back up to 6.64%, up 26 bps while the Italian 10 year rose to 6.01% (+21). This will only serve to renew focus on the Spanish bills (18.30) and Italian bond auctions (19.00) tonight.
