Italy Bond Sale Struggles to Lure Investors Despite Wide Spreads

  • Bid-to-cover ratios at auction decline to multi-month lows
  • Still, amount sold was at the top end of the indicated range
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Italy’s first auction of five- and 10-year debt since a new populist coalition took office met with tepid demand from investors worried about fiscal profligacy in the euro area’s second-most indebted economy.

Even with yields on five-year bonds that are the highest in the euro zone after Greece, the bid-to-cover ratio -- a gauge of investor interest -- was the lowest in almost a year.