Rajoy’s Plea for ECB Aid Backfires as Yields Jump

Spain’s campaign to cajole the European Central Bank into buying its bonds is backfiring.

The nation’s 10-year borrowing cost has jumped more than half a point to 6.62 percent since Jaime Garcia-Legaz, the deputy minister for trade, became the country’s first official to urge the ECB to support its bonds on April 13. Yield increases accelerated after May 24 when Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy signalled that Spain’s debt sustainability may be in danger, and peaked at 6.70 percent on May 30, moving closer to the 7 percent level that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek outside aid.