The euro tumbled on concern Europe’s most indebted nations including Greece may be forced to reorganize their debt payments to bondholders. The 17-nation euro weakened against the dollar, yen, Swiss franc and pound. The Japanese currency strengthened against all 16 of its most traded counterparts after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Die Welt newspaper that Greece may need to negotiate with creditors should an audit in June question its ability to make debt repayments. Portuguese and Greek bonds slumped, driving yields to record highs. “The comments from Schaeuble are critical and represent a change in view that some form of debt restructuring cannot be ruled out,” said Michael Derks, head of currency strategy at FXPro Financial Services in London. “There seems to be a greater focus on these peripheral issues and that’s dragging the single currency down.” The euro weakened 1.1 percent to 119.76 yen as of 11:31 a.m. in London, and depreciated to 119.73, the least since April 5. Europe’s shared currency declined 0.4 percent to $1.4393, after earlier approaching a 15-month high. Switzerland’s franc appreciated 0.5 percent to 1.2876 per euro and strengthened 0.2 percent versus the dollar to 89.45 centimes. The pound climbed 0.5 percent to 88.34 pence per euro. The yield on the 10-year Greek bond rose above 13 percent for the first time, jumping 28 basis points to 13.20 percent. The Portuguese 10-year note also rose to a euro-era record. To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in London gtheunissen@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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