Strengthening expectations of more eurozone interest rate increases helped send yields on 10-year eurozone government bonds briefly below yields on two-year paper on Thursday for the first time in more than six years.

This unusual “inversion” of the yield curve – a line chart plotting the yields paid out by different bonds against the dates at which they mature – was brief but significant, analysts said. The last time an inversion occurred was in 2000 and prior to that in 1992.