10-yr bond yield drops to new low under 3% - update

(ANSA) - Rome, May 6 - The yield on Italy's 10-year BTP State bond dropped below the 3% mark to a record low of 2.99% on Tuesday. The spread between the 10-year BTP and the ultra-safe German bund, a key measure of Italy's borrowing costs and of investor confidence, stood at 154 basis points, the lowest level since May 2011. Italy risked a Greek-style financial meltdown later that year when the spread went over 500 points with yields above 7%.
    The country's borrowing costs have been falling since Premier Matteo Renzi unseated his Democratic Party colleague Enrico Letta in February and took the helm of government promising to revive the economy and reform the country's slow and expensive political system