The major European indices are all closing lower on the day. The declines are led by the German DAX which is down -1.7% and Italy's FTSE MIB which is down by a similar amount. A look at the closing levels shows:
- German DAX, -247.19 points or -1.71% at 14198.81
- France's CAC -90.17 points or -1.4% at 6358.47
- UK's FTSE 100 -116.81 points or -1.54% at 7476.20
- Spain's Ibex, -131.5 points or -1.49% at 8711.21
- Italy's FTSE MIB -122 points or -1.75% at 23813
In the European debt market, benchmark 10 year yields moved sharply higher with the Italian 10 year rising by 22 basis points to 3.696%.
Looking at the Italian 10 year yield , it traded to the highest level since November 2018, and is entering a swing area between 3.679% and 3.850%. The 50% midpoint of the move down from the 2012 high yield comes in at 3.891%. Since the low yield in January 2021 near 0.472%, the yield has moved up 324 basis points.
Moreover, the yields between Italy 10 year and German 10 year is up to 225 basis points. At the end of December it was 136 basis points. The yield spread reached 228 basis points last week which was a highest since May 18, 2020.
