Exchange traded funds indexed to European stocks rose Friday in early U.S. trading after Spain and France sold bonds and markets focused on a meeting of European Union finance ministers.
However, euro currency ETFs were lower Friday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with EU ministers to discuss ways to combat the debt crisis. [Euro ETFs Weaken]
Spain’s Treasury sold about 4 billion euros or $5.47 billion of bonds on Thursday, while France sold 9.8 billion euros to cautious investors. France recently saw some of its largest banks suffer credit downgrades. [Europe ETFs Rise After Leaders Soothe Nerves Over Greece]
“It is quite positive, they were able to issue an amount that is very close to the maximum expected at a bid to cover a bit lower than we had in May,” Alessandro Giansanti, rate strategist at ING, Amsterdam said of the Spanish auction, on Reuters.
Investors will be watching to see if Spain’s Cabinet will restore the wealth tax, proposed by Finance Minister Elena Salgado. The tax levy on a person’s net worth was suspended back in 2008.