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Bloomberg

Bid-Ask Prices on Bonds Show Market ‘Frozen’ in July

Q

By Elisa Martinuzzi and Marco Bertacche - Nov 16, 2011
(Corrects to show that speaker was referring to markets being frozen in July.)

Spreads between bid and ask prices on government bonds in July indicated that markets were “frozen,” said Franco Passacantando, aBank of Italy official said.

“In July, we know that the markets were almost completely frozen,” Franco Passacantando, the Bank of Italy’s Managing Director for Central Banking, Markets and Payment System, said at a conference in Milan today. ‘They were almost completely blocked” and “the ECB began buying bonds, starting with Greek and Portuguese bonds, and then Spanish and Italian. And now they are almost exclusively buying Spanish and Italian bonds.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Bertacche atmbertacche@bloomberg.net