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Friday, February 25, 2011

Europe Update

by Calculated Risk on 2/25/2011 12:30:00 PM

A few notes and stories ...
• The Irish election is today. The polls stay open until 10 PM (5 PM ET).
Here is the Irish Times for election results. The yield on Ireland's Ten Year bond is up to 9.35% - very near the all time high.

• There is a meeting of several EU leaders, apparently including Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, in Helsinki on March 4th, and then a special eurozone debt crisis summit on March 11th.

• Portugal will probably be high on the agenda. The yield on Portugal's Ten Year bond is at 7.55% - an all time high.

• There has been some concern about Italy because they import a large amount of oil from Libya. The yield on Italy's Ten Year bond is up to 4.85% - but the WSJ reports Italy’s €9.5B Bond Sale Goes Smoothly.

• And on oil, Bloomberg reports: Spain Cuts Speed Limit on Highways as Oil Surges on Libya (ht Brian)

Spain will cut the speed limit on its highways, slash the price of train tickets and increase the use of biofuels after oil prices surged because of turmoil in North Africa.

Spain will reduce the speed limit on highways to 110 kilometers per hour (68 miles per hour) from 120 kilometers per hour ...
• Here are the Ten Year yields for Spain, Greece, and Belgium. Still elevated ...