Euro zone Bond yields 4-24-2012 - Mark for future

• Spain sold a total of EUR1.93 billion in 3 and 6 month bills as EUR2 billion was targeted with borrowing costs rising, while BTCs were mixed.
• The EUR725MM 3 month auction saw a yield 0.634% nearly double the March 27 yield 0.381% yet a soaring Bid/Cover of 7.61 vs 3.51 at auction on March 27
• The EUR1.21MM 6 month auction saw a yield of 1.580%, also double the March 27 auction of 0.836%, only this time the Bid/Cover plunged to 3.25 from 5.56 previously

As a reminder this auction was originally supposed to be EUR3 billion and was cut by a third following the recent rout in Spanish bonds.

• Netherlands was another country which sold Bill equivalents by placing EUR1 billion of 3.75% 2014 Bonds, or in other words paper that matures inside the LTRO and is meaningless in terms of actual demand, as it merely piles up Europe's rollover needs around the time of LTRO expiration. However, it also sold EUR0.995billion in 2037 paper at an average yield f 2.782%

The good news is that despite the fact that the country's cabinet just resigned, the yield 0.523% was lower compared to the 0.618% printed at the  0.75% 2015 auction on March 13
Of the 25 year bonds, which saw EUR995MM total sold, the average yield rose to 2.782% vs 2.736% at 2.50% 2033 auction on March 6
Finally, the maximum offering size was EUR 2.5 billion, so the total issuance demand was 20% below max. Yet somehow this was "good enough"
Finally,

•  Italy sold a total of EUR2.5b in Bill equivalent Zero Coupon 2014 bonds (again inside TARP), meeting the issuance target.

The average yield soared to 3.355% vs 2.352% at the auction on March 27
The Bid/Cover declined to 1.80 vs 1.86 at auction on March 27