France Sells Nearly 8 Billion Euros of Bonds Despite Rising Yields

Source 

“France sold 7.98 billion euros ($10.82 billion) in debt as borrowing costs rose.

The treasury auctioned 3.02 billion euros of nine-year securities at an average yield of 2.30 percent, compared with 2.07 percent at the last such sale on Jan. 3. It sold 3.19 billion euros of 14-year bonds were sold at a yield of 2.85 percent, compared with 2.56 percent in the last auction on Dec. 6. It also sold 1.77 billion euros of seven-year debt at an average yield of 1.83 percent.

France’s second bond auction of the year comes as the European Central Bank’s promise to keep the euro intact has reduced investor concern about Italian and Spanish debt, pulling down 10-year yields for those countries. That has shifted focus to the real economy in France, where President Francois Hollande is battling joblessness at a 15-year high. Economists say France may have slipped into recession.”