Investors are betting the house on Mario Monti. Italy’s unelected prime minister presented a new set of spending cuts and tax increases to parliament yesterday and already Italian bond yields are dropping. The measures were enough to send the 10-year yield tumbling below 6 per cent. It is worth pausing to consider two things, however. First, Italy needs growth, not austerity. Second, parliament may well water it all down. The measures are a welcome but small step on a very long journey.
投資者把身家押在了馬里奧?蒙蒂(Mario Monti)身上。這位并非經選舉產生的意大利總理,昨日向國會提交了一套減支增稅的新方案,意大利國債收益率應聲下落。這些措施足以讓10年期國債收益率大幅降至6%以下。不過我們有必要停下來考慮兩個問題。第一,意大利需要的是增長,而不是財政緊縮。第二,意大利國會很可能會往這套方案中“兌水”,使其效力大打折扣。盡管這些措施令人欣慰,但它們只是漫長旅程中的一小步。