Here is just a quick snapshot of Irish ten-year government bond yields as calculated by Bloomberg for the past month.
This graph starts on Monday 18th July when the yield peaked at 14.1%. The yield dropped in the run up to the eurozone summit in Brussels on Thursday 21st July and then fell on virtually every day for the next three weeks. The yield dropped below 10% on Monday 8th August and has stayed below that level ever since.
Keeping below 10% is not an indicator that the crisis is over; far from it. There is still a long way to go, and there are many potential pitfalls that could hinder our return to borrowing from these markets (which would require the yield to drop to 6% and lower) but it is a move in the right direction.
While it's welcome that the rate of Irish bond yields has come down a good bit and below the psychologically-important 10% level, the fact that the decline has eased is a let-down. It's probably inevitable that the fall would be arrested by the renewed fears for the global economy. However the massive fall seen since the re-negotiation of the EU/IMF lending facility is still a relief and hopefully we'll see Irish ten year bonds at around 6% come Budget Day so that we can return to those markets next year.
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