Italian Bonds Snap Six-Day Decline on ECB Buying Speculation

Italian and Spanish bonds rose on speculation the European Central Bank bought the debt of the euro region’s most-indebted nations to stabilize markets amid concern that the debt crisis is worsening.

Greek 10-year yields fell the most in almost two weeks while equivalent-maturity Spanish yields retreated from a euro-era record reached earlier. Italian bonds rose, with yields below 6 percent after breaching the level for the first time since 1997. The 27 European Union finance ministers continued meetings today after euro-region officials said late yesterday that they may revive bond buybacks to ease Greece’s debt woes. An ECB press officer declined to comment on whether it bought so-called peripheral euro-region bonds today.