Access Investments-European Union- ROMANIA

Germany's debt auction has just concluded --- and the breaking news is that it has sold just over €4bn of the €5bn of 10-year Bunds on offer. The Bundesbank reported that it sold €4.057 of 10-year Bunds. The yield (or interest rate) on the debt fell slightly to 1.93%, from 1.98%, but this is the second auction in a row where the German Finance Agency has been forced to retain some debt....that there was a risk that the auction might not be fully subscribed (David Schnautz of Commerzbank called the results very accurately). The result certainly isn't a disaster, and it would be wrong to suggest that 'the markets' suddenly don't trust German debt. Looking at the table of results -- Germany actually received more than €5bn of bids, but presumably some of the bids were unacceptably low. Here come the UK auction results, with the British debt sale going smoothly. The UK Debt Management Agency just reported that it sold its £3.75bn of five-year gilts at an average yield, or interest rate, of 1.106%. That's a drop from 1.143% at the last auction of this kind. sterling has hit a one-year high against the euro. The euro just fell below the 83p mark for the first time since early January 2011, hitting a low of 82.99p. That means one pound is worth €1.2049. The word in the foreign exchange markets is that traders are shifting out of the euro and back into "safer assets". This morning's economic data - which strongly suggested that the eurozone is heading into recession - has added to the pressure on the euro.