German Notes Climb, Italian Benchmark Bonds Fall Before Auction
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German notes rose, pushing the rate on two-year notes to less than 0.2 percent for the first time, as investors sought the safest assets before Italy auctions as much as 20 billion euros ($26.2 billion) of debt.
Italian benchmark debt held three days of declines. German bonds snapped a two-day drop after International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the world economy is in danger because of Europe’s financial woes. Dutch and Finnish note yields also fell. Italy plans to sell 9 billion euros of 179-day bills and as much as 2.5 billion euros of zero-coupon notes due in 2013 tomorrow. It will offer bonds due between 2014 and 2022 on Dec. 29.