Calls of Spain “decoupling” from other troubled Southern European nations earlier this month may have come a bit too soon.

After a few weeks of calm and shrinking bond yields, the price that Spain needs to pay to lure investors to its 10-year debt has risen, again, to near record highs. It spiked by as much as 18 basis points to 5.60% yesterday, the highest since January 11, settling at 5.41% today (see Graph 1, below).