The yield spread between Italian and German government bonds has led to the widening of yield spreads in the Eurozone so far this year.

Barclays strategists Max Kitson and Pratham Hukmat Kingar stated in a report that since the beginning of this year, the yield spread of eurozone government bonds has widened, mainly driven by the yield spread between Italian and German government bonds, with the yield spread between French and German government bonds coming in second. The tightening of the yield spread between Italian and German government bonds has been partially driven by decisions of rating agencies: S&P Global Ratings upgraded Italy's rating in April, and Moody's gave the country a positive outlook in May. These strategists noted that in the case of French and German government bonds, there have been no new political/financial negative news, which has allowed investors to confidently increase arbitrage trading in French government bonds. These strategists stated: "More broadly, the narrowing of sovereign bond spreads has been supported by investors' initial optimism about the long-term economic prospects of the eurozone."