EURO ZONE

Spain Pulls Off $6.2B Bond Sale

A good sign for Spanish debt.

Spain sold $6.2 billion worth of bonds on Thursday, a sign that investor confidence in the country may be growing despite its shaky position in the euro zone. Uncertainty regarding the 17-nation common currency has abated somewhat after the European Central Bank took a strong position in early September, saying it would buy “unlimited” amounts of Spanish and Italian bonds if necessary to stop the euro zone from hemorrhaging debt. The 10-year bonds sold Thursday for a 5.666 percent yield, versus a 6.647 percent yield in August. Overall, the euro-zone business remains sickly despite the recent aggressive action from the European Central Bank, as the composite euro-zone PMI (purchasing manager index) fell even more in September.