MTECHTIPS

MTECHTIPS;-GLOBAL HAPPENINGS

S&P Home price Index for August provided more evidence of the housing market’s recovery. The Case-Shiller report indicated that the 20-City Composite increased by two percent on a year-over-year basis, with Seattle being the only city in the group demonstrating a price decline.Spain's economy has continued to shrink, as the government's harsh austerity measures take their toll. The country's GDP contracted by 0.3% between July and September, slightly better than the 0.4% drop of the previous quarter.Italy issued 7 billion euros of new five- and 10-year bonds at its lowest cost of borrowing since May 2011. Italian 10-year bond yields were 1 basis point lower at 5.00 percent, having risen 10 bps on Monday and about 25 bps in the last two weeks. Five-year yields dropped 6.5 bps to 3.83 percent.