TK: European Inflation at 2.7% and Record Unemployment
European markets gained after the Spanish Treasury sold €4.5 billion bonds at lower yields and inflation rose at the faster pace in the region and unemployment surged to the record high since the creation of the euro.
The Greek parliament approved pension and health reforms aimed at cutting costs by €3.2 billion with 213 votes in favour and 58 against and public workers struck today in Athens opposing measures.
Euro area finance ministers are set to meet later today in Brussels to discuss Greece’s second bailout package.
In Paris trading, the CAC-40 Index gained 37.13 or 1.1% to 3,489.46 and in Frankfurt the DAX Index edged higher 65.58 or 1.0% to 6,921.06.
Italian 10-year yields fell 20 basis points at 4.98%. Spanish 10-year yields dropped 8 basis points to be at 4.88%.
Spanish Bond Auction
The Spanish Treasury sold €4.5 billion bonds in one, three and four year bonds matching the upper end of its €3.5 billion to €4.5 billion target range.
The country sold €1.9 billion 4 percent July 2015 bonds at an average yield of 2.617%, down from 3.332% paid in the previous sale on February 16. Demand was 2.37 times the offer, better than 2.19 previously.
The Treasury sold €1.06 billion 3.40 percent April 2014 debt at yield 2.06% and the bid-to-cover ratio was 2.8.
The agency also sold €1.53 billion of bonds maturing October 31, 2016 and carrying a coupon rate of 4.25 percent at yield 3.376%, down from 3.455% in the previous auction on February 2. Investors bid 2.6 times the offer, less than 3.57 in the previous sale.
Euro-zone Inflation, Unemployment Up
Euro-zone inflation rose to 2.7% in February from 2.6% in January, flash estimate from Eurostat showed.
The statistics office is slated to publish final February figures on March 14.
The euro-zone unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 10.7% in January from 10.6% in December, Eurostat said today.
Compared with December, the number of persons unemployed in the euro area increased by 185,000. From the same period of last year, unemployment rose 1.221 million to 16.925 million.
In the EU27, the jobless rate was 10.1% in January compared with 10% in December.
Also, the Italian jobless rate climbed to 9.2% in January from 8.9% in December, the highest since the statistics office started monthly data series in January 2004.
