Spain Raises

Arthi Gupta
21 Feb, 2012
New York City

Spain auctioned

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Spain auctioned €2.5 billion worth of treasury bills at lower yields. Swiss trade surplus fell but money supply growth grew in January. The Danish and Dutch sentiment improved in February. Bulgarian unemployment rate increased in the fourth quarter.[/R]

Spain Bond Auction

The Spanish Treasury sold €2.5 billion worth of treasury bills today, at the top end of its target range at lower borrowing costs. Demand for the three- and six-month Treasury bills totaled €14.8 billion.

The average yield on the three-month Treasury bills declined to 0.396% from 1.285% at the previous auction on January 24. The average yield on the six-month Treasury bills fell to 0.779% from 1.847% last month.

Swiss Surplus Drops

Switzerland''s trade surplus declined to Sfr1.553 billion in January from Sfr2 billion in December, the Federal Customs Administration said today.

Exports fell 3.4% in January, reversing the 6.4% expansion of December, while imports slowed to 3.6% in January from 8.4% in December on a monthly basis.

Separately, the Swiss money supply growth grew in January, the Swiss National Bank said. M3, the broad measure of money supply, increased 8.2% from a year ago in January compared to the 7.4% rise in December. The narrow money or M1 growth rose to 12.2% in January from 11.7% in December a month ago.

Danish Sentiment Improves

Denmark''s consumer confidence index increased to -4.8 in February from -7 in January, data released by Statistics Denmark showed.

Also, consumers were more optimistic about prospects for their financial situation in the next year, with the corresponding indicator rising to 8.6 in February from 7.1 in January.

Dutch Confidence Rises

The Dutch consumer confidence index edged up to -36 in February from -37 in January, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed.

The indicator of consumers views of their own personal finances in the past dropped to -23 in February from -19 in January.

Bulgarian Jobless Rate Up

Bulgaria''s unemployment rate increased to 11.4% in the fourth quarter from 11.2% in the same period a year earlier, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed.

The unemployment rate among youth, aged between 15 and 24, rose to 28.9% in the fourth quarter from 26.5% a year earlier.

The number of unemployed persons fell slightly to 380,900 in the fourth quarter from 382,400 a year earlier.