Eurozone government bond yields hit record lows

Yields on French, Spanish, Italian, German, Irish, Portuguese and Belgian 10-year government bonds hit record lows after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday announced a €60 billion-a-month program to buy eurozone government debt.

Most continued to trade at record lows as noon Eastern approached, but some, including the 10-year German bund, saw their yields rise in late-morning trade as investors seized an opportunity to sell at a profit.

Treasury yields also declined, remained above their levels from Wednesday’s close.

In recent trade, the Spanish 10-year bond yield TMBMKES-10Y, -9.13% was down 14.8 basis points to 1.408%; the Belgian 10-year yield TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% was down 8.5 basis points to 0.584%; the Italian 10-year yield TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% was down 13.7 basis points to 1.564%; the French 10-year TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% was down eight basis points to 0.616%; the Portuguese 10-year yield TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% was down 18.3 basis points to 2.345%. All were at record lows.

The German 10-year bund yield TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% fell to an all-time low of 0.384% and the Irish 10-year yield fell to 1.150% before rising slightly. The bund was last down 6.5 basis points to 0.398%. The Irish TMBMKDE-10Y, -16.61% 10-year yield was last down 9.5 basis points to 1.158%.