> Italian and Greek bonds now have lower yields/rates (i.e., considered lower risk(?)) than US bonds

That's not what rates indicate. its one component, but its far from a straight line from higher rates to more risk.

You can't really compare bonds that pay in different currencies by Rate alone.

malfist a day ago | parent | next [-]

Why not? Percentage is the same for dollars as it is for yen or franks or pesos

	▲	05hundred a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Well for one thing, different currencies have different rates of inflation. If one currency has 10% inflation and another has 1%, the second countries bonds at 5% will have a higher real return than the first, even if the risk of defaulting were the same, so the first country will have to offer a much higher coupon to find any buyers. Also governments can influence demand, e.g. by mandating banks or pension funds buy their bonds, thereby pushing yields down, without changing the risk of default.
	▲	chollida1 20 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		> Why not? Percentage is the same for dollars as it is for yen or franks or pesos That's a fair question if you aren't int he industry. Inflation would be the best example of why you can't do that. Would you rather have a Zimbabwe bond that pays 10%(when they had 10,000% inflation a year) or a US bond that pays 5%
	▲	rdm_blackhole a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The eurozone countries' bond rates are distorted by the Euro.

a day ago | parent | prev [-]

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