Benoit Coeure, an executive director of the ECB, said the bank could restart its sovereign bond buying programme in a move likely to antagonize Germany but relieve a spiralling political, economic and social crisis in Spain. Mr Coeure said that market fears over Spain were "not justified" but he added: "Will the ECB intervene? We have an instrument, the securities markets programme [SMP] which hasn't been used recently but it still exists." Bond traders were soothed by the comments. The yield on Spain's benchmark 10-year bonds was pulled back from 6pc on Tuesday to 5.88pc, while the yield on Italy's 10-year debt ... (full story)