FINANCIAL TIMES: Silvio Berlusconi pledged on Monday to fight on in spite of a growing revolt within his centre-right party and a further erosion of Italy’s credibility on bond markets that forced the European Central Bank to intervene to steady nerves.
Italian 10-year bond yields rose to euro-era highs of 6.68 per cent at one point, well into territory considered unsustainable by the markets. Traders warned that without ECB intervention, the Italian bond markets would have seen leaps in yields that forced Ireland and Portugal to accept emergency bail-outs.
Comments by two editors close to the Italian prime minister that predicted his imminent resignation led to sharp gains for stocks on the Milan bourse, until Mr Berlusconi stepped in to deny them… (more)
