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The political tension in Catalonia has started to have international effects, to the extent that European investors have taken refuge in US government bonds, according to a report in the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal.

"U.S. government bonds gained Thursday as investors sought assets perceived as relatively safe after tensions heightened between the Spanish government and the Catalan independence movement," the paper writes.

This led yield on the benchmark 10-year bonds to fall from 2.339% yesterday to 2.307%. As the Journal explain, "yields fall as bond prices rise".