05/15/2015
QE in the Eurozone, Part II
[Posted 5/11 PM...but dated differently for archival reasons]
QE in the Eurozone
Update on my 4/3/15 piece on eurozone bond yields over the past year, as well as the change since the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing (QE) program formally went into effect on March 9. [So I’ll note the yield the Friday before, March 6] I include non-euro Britain, the U.S. and Japan for comparison.
The reason for the update is the extreme volatility we have witnessed the past 10 days or so. Thursday, 5/7/15, in particular was wild, so I list the intraday high yields for that day, and then the close for Monday, 5/11/15.
10-year yields...3/31/14...3/6/15...I-5/7/15*...5/11/15
*Intraday
Germany 1.57 (3/31/14)...0.39 (3/6/15)...0.96 (I-5/7/15)... 0.61 (5/11/15)
France 2.08... 0.69... 1.08... 0.90
Italy 3.29... 1.31... 2.04... 1.76
Spain 3.22... 1.29... 2.00... 1.74
Portugal 4.06... 1.74... 2.73... 2.33
Netherlands 1.91... 0.43... 0.93... 0.79
Greece 6.25... 9.09... 11.23... 10.56
Britain 2.74... 1.95... 2.07... 1.95
Japan 0.63... 0.39... 0.44... 0.39
United States 2.73... 2.24... 2.31... 2.26
You can see how rates moved down across the eurozone (save Greece) in anticipation of QE, but since the actual launch, rates are now rising. As in so much for QE!!!
Greece, of course, is an outlier due to the renewal of its debt crisis.
*The euro yields may vary by a few basis points depending on your stat source. Mine is largely Bloomberg.com, as well as Investing.com.
Wall Street History will return in two weeks.
Brian Trumbore
