Italy pays dear to issue short-term debt

Spain succeeded in raising 3.04 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in a short-term debt sale Tuesday but its borrowing costs soared as the eurozone debt storm battered Madrid.The Treasury managed to beat its goal of raising 2.0-3.0 billion euros in a sale of 12- and 18-month notes.It lured investors, with overall demand outstripping supply by more than two-to-one, but only at a sky-high price.Compared to May 14, the yield shot to 5.074 percent from 2.985 for 12-month notes and to 5.107 percent from 3.302 percent for 18-month notes, Bank of Spain figures showed.

Sovereign bond yields in Spain and Italy have been climbing across the board, not just the longer durations. Please consider Italy pays dearly to issue one-year debt. Italy sold €6.5bn of one-year debt at the highest cost since December, underscoring how one of the world’s biggest bond markets has been dragged back into Europe’s debt crisis.

Italy could issue its first 30-year benchmark bond in more than three years in 2013 after successfully selling a new 15-year bond this week, the head of the Debt Management Office said Wednesday. Rome, which has 2 trillion euros of public debt to refinance, shied away from selling longer-dated paper during the worst of the euro zone debt crisis, which pushed yields on its bonds and its borrowing costs higher across the curve.

Madrid sells €3.08bn of short-term debt but pays the highest interest rates since last year, while Rome pays 4.712% to sell two-year paper

Italy paid euro-era high yields to sell the targeted amount of short-term debt at an auction, data from the Bank of Italy showed.

Rome, Italy — It's my last night here in Italy, so I went out for one last meal, and while I was at the restaurant I glanced up at the TV to see a replay of an earlier interview with Beppe Grillo, the big winner in last night's election (he didn't win outright, but the populist, anti-elite comedian far exceeded anyone else's expectations). But the real lesson is in the caption.