Italy, Spain default insurance costs hit record (by William L. Watts)
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- The cost of insuring Spanish and Italian government debt against default via instruments known as credit default swaps, or CDS, hit new records on Friday, according to data provider Markit. The spread on five-year Spanish CDS widened to 610 basis points from 596 basis points on Thursday. That means it would now cost $610,000 annually to insure $10 million of Spanish debt against default for five years, up $14,000 from the previous day. The spread on Italian CDS widened by 22 basis points to 579. Core euro-zone countries also saw a rise, with the French CDS spread widening by 8 basis points to 225 and Germany widening by 4 basis points to 106, Markit said.