Italy

Spain is enjoying a strong warm-up for a debt auction this week, as its yields fell faster than its eurozone periphery peers following a Catalonian election where independence parties won just under 50% of the vote.

Banca Carige has appointed leads for a roadshow to market a prospective covered bond deal that does not currently have an investment grade rating from Moody’s.

Investors could have their first chance in two months to buy tier two debt from a periphery bank as early as Friday, after Banca Popolare di Vicenza hired leads for a 10 year non-call five.

Sorgente Real Estate System, the Italian property company, today launched its initial public offering in Milan, according to a banker on the deal.

The second Greek general election of the year has returned a much more market friendly result than the first one, and SSA bankers are hopeful that a prevailing calm in the euro market could lead to some deals.

Greece heads to the polls over the weekend for its second parliamentary election this year, but there is little concern of the plebiscite rocking markets like the earlier vote in January.

Banco Popolare

Spain’s borrowing costs dropped in five years but rose in threes and 10s at an auction on Thursday, as Italy shelved its BTP Italia product for the year.

Italy shunted just over €2bn of redemptions due over the next three years into the next decade, as Portugal sliced several basis points from its short term borrowing costs.

Spain kicked off a busy week for the eurozone periphery with a bill sale where the sovereign’s borrowing costs repeated their pattern for much of this year by bumping around 0%.

The first trades in Italian punto di scambio virtuale (PSV, or virtual trading point) futures contracts have taken place on Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Endex platform.

Banco Popolare struggled to sell €500m of three year debt on Monday as there is no longer a natural investor base for the product. Spreads must widen or these banks will find their long term funding options limited.