Marcus Ashworth, Columnist

The Bond Market's Warning to Italy

The country is struggling to find buyers for its debt, despite offering a much higher yield than Germany.

June 28, 2018 at 10:38 AM UTC

Marcus Ashworth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European markets. Previously, he was chief markets strategist for Haitong Securities in London.

Dusk over Rome.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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It wasn't a disaster. That's about all that can be said for Italy's government bond auction on Thursday.

Demand for Europe's most prolific borrower has fallen to a worryingly low level. That will complicate the new administration's efforts to finance its spending plans. Little wonder then that Italian yields nudged slightly higher after the auction.