Bond markets all over the world are getting demolished after the European Central Bank announced it would extend its quantitative-easing program until at least December 2017 but would scale down its asset purchases to €60 billion a month from €80 billion.
Selling is having the biggest impact on Italian bonds, running the 10-year yield up by as much as 15 basis points to 2.03%.
The tapering of the ECB’s bond-buying program has reignited worries surrounding the health of the Italian banking system. Monte dei Paschi, the world’s oldest bank, is teetering on the brink of default and is in talks to be rescued.
And the rest of the bond markets in peripheral Europe are under pressure as well. Portugal and Spain’s 10-year yields are up a respective 8 and 12 basis points to 1.54% and 3.55%.
Even the safety of German bunds has come into question, with the 10-year yield up 8 basis points at 42 basis points. That’s the highest it has been since January.
Here in the US, yields are higher by as much as 7 basis points at the long end of the curve and are approaching their cycle highs. The 10-year yield is flirting with 2.41% and would need to hit 2.45% to put in its highest reading since the middle of 2015.
