Italian debt hits new record as Greek government fails to materialise

Italian debt costs have hit 7%, widely seen as a potential point of no return, as a new Greek government supposed to ratify the recent bailout deal has failed to materialise. The Euro has weakened further through trading today as the crisis intensifies.

Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to step down, but without Greek approval of the Eurozone bailout, Italian and Spanish debt continues to mount in cost as investors flee from lending to potentially unsupported states. Euro rates against the Pound rose again today as the Euro weakened.

Buried in the news today was the UK trade deficit which reached a new record of £9.8bn. The Pound fell sharply against the US Dollar, which also found some strength (giving worse rates for buying US Dollars) from the crisis in Europe.

Tomorrow we have the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing decision, which could hurt sterling if further asset-buying is announced at midday.