WHEW: French And Spanish Bond Auctions Go Smoothly, Banks Surge

Sam Ro 

 Jan. 19, 2012

AP

So, the bidders in today's Spanish and French bond auctions

were unfazed by last Friday's S&P downgrades of 9 European sovereigns. 

 Demand was healthy and yields were low.  

 And credit default swap spreads in both countries tightened,

 reflecting a decline in perceived credit risk.

Overall, the major European stock markets haven't really budged since before the auctions.

France's CAC 40: up 0.6%

England's FTSE 100: down 0.0%

Germany's DAX: down 0.2%

Spain's IBEX 35: up 0.4%

Italy's FTSE-MIB: up 0.5%

It is however worth noting that the big European banks are going gangbusters.

Deutsche Bank: up 4.8%

Societe Generale:  up 5.7%

Banco Santander: up 1.8%