The additional yield that investors demand to hold Italian 10-year bonds over equivalent-maturity German bunds rose above 500 basis points, or 5 percentage points, for the first time in more than six months.

The Italian 10-year yield climbed 17 basis points to 6.17 percent at 2:56 p.m. London time. That pushed the spread 22 basis points wider to 501 basis points, the most since Jan. 16.

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