Whatever happened to European sovereign risk? Yields on the government bonds of the weakest eurozone members have been gingerly tightening in the past few days. This is particularly true of Spain, which seems to be enjoying a mini re-rating: bond spreads along the curve have fallen by up to 100 basis points this month. The sovereign, along with Portugal, saw refinancing costs fall this week – not substantially, but every basis point helps. The better tone in the markets is being attributed to a relief rally after the European banking sector was given a mostly clean bill of health by last week’s stress tests, which have made banks’ balance sheets a little more transparent. But just because you have a new pair of spectacles doesn’t mean the film you’re watching is any better.
欧洲主权债务危机究竟发生了什么变化？过去几天，欧元区最虚弱成员国的政府债券收益率一直在小心翼翼地收紧。西班牙尤为突出：其各种期限国债的息差本月已经下降至多100个基点，看上去像是经历了一次微型的评级调整。西班牙和葡萄牙的主权融资成本本周都出现下降——幅度不大，但每降一个基点都有帮助。市场情绪的改善被视为一种压抑后的反弹。在上周的压力测试中，欧洲银行业得到了一份近乎完美的体检结果，测试也略微提高了各家银行资产负债表的透明度。但是，你正在观看的电影不会只因为你戴了一副新眼镜，就变得好看起来。