Bond yields are rising despite Lagarde’s assurances

The European Central Bank is urging citizens to trust it in its efforts to stabilize inflation, but investors do not seem convinced. ECB President Christine Lagarde speaking to a German audience today (at the German Federal Reserve during the inauguration of new head J. Nagel) acknowledged that accuracy (rising prices) is a legitimate concern for European citizens. “At the ECB, we take this concern very seriously. That is why citizens must trust the commitment we have made to safeguard price stability, which is a precondition for confidence in the euro,” he said.

Despite these assurances, the pressures today – mainly in the regional bond markets – were intense. Nevertheless, Portugal today attempted to enter the markets with a consortium issue of a 20-year bond. The rise in yields was also felt in Italy, as the margin of its 10-year bonds, compared to the German ones, reached 1.4%. The situation in Greece – in the absence of an investment grade – is worse as the margin reached marginally below 1.6%.

In the domestic market and more specifically, in the Electronic Transaction System of the Bank of Greece (HDAT) today were recorded transactions of 32 million euros, of which 16 million euros related to purchase orders. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond stood at 1.57% (during the day it reached 1.59%) from 1.55% yesterday, compared to -0.02% of the corresponding German bond, resulting in a margin of 1.59 %.

The euro is moving higher in the foreign exchange market today as it traded early in the afternoon at $ 1.1343 from the $ 1.1323 that the market opened.

The indicative price for the euro / dollar exchange rate announced by the European Central Bank was 1.1336 dollars.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ