Spain Completes Last Bond Sale With Rating at Risk: Euro Credit

Spain completed the final bond sale of the year with the threat of a credit rating downgrade, undermining the government’s efforts to convince investors the nation and its lenders can meet their refinancing needs in 2011.

Today’s auction of 10-year and 15-year bonds raised 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion), missing the maximum goal of 3 billion euros, after a surge in borrowing costs led the Treasury to reduce the usual target of as much as 4 billion euros. The yield on 10-year bonds rose five basis points after the auction to 5.56 percent as of 11:46 a.m. in Madrid.