Fears that the eurozone’s firewall will prove insufficient to shield Spain and other embattled countries against the effects of a possible disorderly Greek exit from the currency union hit European financial markets yesterday.
Spanish and Italian 10-year borrowing costs shot up to their highest levels this year and European stock markets suffered their biggest one-day drop in three weeks. German 10-year bond yields fell to a record low, widening the premium Madrid pays to borrow compared with Berlin to a new euro-era high.
“It’s looking alarming right now,” said Luke Spajic, a senior fund manager at Pimco, one of the world’s largest bond investors. “The market is effectively trying to price in a disorderly exit for Greece.”