Italian credit default swaps (CDS) witnessed the highest number of contracts traded since July last year, Financial Times reports. Last week, Italian credit swaps saw the outstanding amount of gross contracts rise to $298 billion.

It is an increase of $16 billion over the past month and a jump of $64 billion over the past year. The number of Italian credit default swaps contracts traded last week climbed to 867, almost double from the previous week, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

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