European Bond Markets Continue to Show Signs of Stress

PARIS — The new Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which takes office next month, found Tuesday that there would be no market honeymoon after Spain had to pay more to sell short-term debt.

Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party won a resounding 186 seats and a governing majority on Sunday in Spain’s 350-seat lower house of Parliament, promising to turn around an economy where the jobless rate is over 20 percent.

The Spanish Treasury on Tuesday sold three-month bills priced to yield 5.11 percent — more than double the 2.29 percent it paid to move similar securities on Oct. 25. It also sold six-month debt at 5.23 percent, up from 3.30 percent in October.

In afternoon trading, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, rose 0.8 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London rose 0.5 percent.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose slightly, suggesting Wall Street would have a better day than on Monday, when S&P 500 index fell 1.9 percent.

Euro-zone bonds reflected continuing stress. Spain’s 10-year bonds were at 6.53 percent, up 6 basis points, while Italy’s 10-years were flat at 6.62 percent. French 10-year bonds were at 3.47 percent, up 2 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent.

U.S. 10-year Treasuries were trading to yield 1.98 percent, up 3 basis points, and German 10-years were at 1.93 percent, up 2 basis points.

On Monday, U.S. markets were rocked by the failure of the so-called supercommittee — a bipartisan congressional panel — to agree to long-term measures to restore the United States’ fiscal balance.

Asian shares were mixed. The Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.4 percent. The Sydney market index S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ticked up 0.1 percent and in Shanghai the composite index fell 0.1 percent.

U.S. crude oil futures rose 1 percent to $97.85 a barrel. Comex gold futures rose 0.9 percent to $1,693.40 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against major European currencies. The euro rose to $1.3552 from $1.3489 late Monday in New York, while the British pound rose to $1.5663 from $1.5641. The dollar fell to 0.9118 Swiss francs from 0.9173 francs. But reversing recent days’ action, the dollar gained against its Japanese counterpart, rising to 78.86 yen from 76.89 yen.