Italian Bonds Plunge To Worst Day In 9 Weeks

With the UK on holiday (vacation), European markets were relatively quiet - apart from Italy... The Berlusconi debacle rolls on and sparked the worst sell-off in Italian sovereign bonds in 9 weeks and pushed the spread on BTPs over Bunds to its highest in 3 weeks. Most European equity markets closed mildly lower (with Germany's DAX unch - recovering from its EUREX-halting drop earlier in the day. Italian stocks were the big underperformer (down 2.2%). For the 3rd day in a row, Europe's VIX was smashed lower from an opening high print to close at its lows. The UK and its 'credit police' will be back tomorrow.

Worst day for Italian bonds in 9 weeks...

and Italian stocks underperformed...

but once again Europe's VIX was slammed lower...

Seems like the Europeans are learning the US tricks?

Charts: Bloomberg