06.08.2012
By Simon Miller
Investors are paying the Netherlands to look after their cash as the hunt for safe havens in Europe continued.
At a short-term auction this morning, investors were willing to pay -0.051% for €1.24bn (£0.98bn) of three-month debt from the Dutch while €1.26bn of seven-month bills were also sold at an average rate of -0.020%.
Investors continue to look for safe havens from the eurozone that is facing a crisis of confidence to follow the debt crisis.
As briefing and counter-briefing continued over the weekend, Italian prime minister Mario Monti warned that tensions over how to resolve the crisis could tear Europe apart.
He warned that the pressures "already bear the traits of a psychological break-up of Europe".
Meanwhile, German research group Sentix said confidence about the eurozone's survival decreased in July.
The Sentix euro break-up index for July rose by 22 percentage points to a 73% probability of at least one country leaving the euro within the next 12 months.
The increase in the probability of a break-up came after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi aggressively tried to convince investors that everything will be done to the rescue of the common currency.
According to the index, Greece remains the trigger for a possible break-up with 97 % of respondents expecting Greece to quit the euro within a year.
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