Spanish Sovereign

Spain boosted its maturity profile and pushed down its borrowing costs on Thursday, auctioning €1.021bn of July 2032 bonds at a yield lower than where it last sold bonds of a similar tenor two months ago.

Spain and Greece shook off a sell-off in their paper last week to push down yields at bill auctions on Tuesday. The result augured particularly well for Spain, which sells longer dated paper later in the week.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

Periphery eurozone sovereigns shrugged off difficult conditions in parts of European periphery bond markets — caused by concerns over the fortunes of Banco Espírito Santo — at a series of auctions on Thursday, while a Spanish region was able to print a privately placed tap. Tricky conditions for peripheral syndications could create more opportunities in the private market, said MTN dealers.

The Community of Aragon made it a second day of success in a row for Spanish regions, with a three year bond that was more than three times oversubscribed and matched the spread compression achieved by a Madrid deal on Monday. Greece could make it a triple whammy for the periphery this week if it comes with a much rumoured three year deal.

The Community of Madrid printed a new July 2023 bond through its curve and overshot its maximum size target on Monday, as bankers said that the deal could signal a series of trades from its Spanish regional peers.

The Community of Madrid is planning a syndication that could come as soon as next week, according to a funding official at the region’s ministry of finance.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of sovereign issuers, with most issuers moving into the second half of their funding programmes. Next week's scorecard will deal with European supranationals and agencies.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

Italy will attempt to reduce its 2015 funding requirement on Friday with an exchange offer a little over a week after Spain launched a similar operation.

Cyprus wasted no time in mandating for a comeback bond, hitting screens on Tuesday afternoon after two days of investor meetings in London. Elsewhere, Spain — which auctions bonds on Wednesday — and Greece enjoyed stellar conditions in bills sales.

Spain feasted on rampant demand for eurozone periphery in the wake of the latest dovish moves from the European Central Bank by printing a €9bn October 2024 bond on Thursday — but also drew plaudits for the innovative structure of the deal.