Italy Leads Eurozone Bond Selloff

Italy’s bonds fell for a second day, leading declines among Europe’s higher-yielding sovereign securities, as European Central Bank officials sought to temper investor expectations that they will extend stimulus measures, Bloomberg reported. German 10-year bonds, the region’s benchmark government debt, rose for a third day, while those of Spain and Portugal tracked the decline in Italian securities. Three weeks before the Governing Council’s next meeting, an account of the Oct. 19-20 gathering showed that officials were keen that they didn’t create undue expectations about more quantitative easing. Italian 10-year bond yields jumped seven basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 2.10%. The 1.25% security due December 2026 fell 0.6, or €6 per €1,000 ($1,068) face amount, to 92.415. The yield jumped to 2.23% on Nov. 14, the highest since July 2015. Spanish 10-year bond yields climbed six basis points to 1.60% and those on similar-maturity Portuguese debt reached 3.77%, the highest since Feb. 12. German 10-year bund yields dropped two basis points to 0.28%.