Goodbye, July, goodbye. Watching the month end is pleasant for the Spanish Treasury, who yesterday carried out the last of several issuing of public debt that it had scheduled for this month. From an economic perspective, this July was perhaps the tensest month Spain has lived through since the euro was adopted.
This feeling was confirmed when 3 and 6-month bond issuances concluded; there was a strong drop in demand and a substantial rise in interest rates with respect to rates in the May deals.
The 3-month bonds were sold with average yields of 1.899%, the highest since 2008 and 21% greater than those registered in June. 6-month bonds went at an average rate of 2.519%, the maximum level since December of 2010 and a 41.8% increase from June. Another figure demonstrates the magnitude of these interest rates: one year ago, the Treasury issued debt at average costs of 0.67% and 1.14% respectively, and yesterday they ended up paying double this amount.
