cowgill, regular siftors to the european bond market have been absent in 2018. we will talk about that next. this is "bloomberg real yield." ♪ >> i am jonathan. this is "bloomberg real yield." i want to head to the auction block. we start in the united states. the treasury selling $14 billion of five year at yield of of -- at a 7.25%. daimler issued its second round of pound bovends, parking a 40% slump in corporate debt sales in 2018. the mercedes-benz priced the notes to yield 2.033%. staying in europe. u.s. companies have cut investment great notes to 0%. removed an incentive to issue debt in europe. i want to get to a fascinating story. we have a mention of a report that says president trump told italian prment that the u.s. is willing to help the country by buying government bond next year. still with me is matt from and other our guests. everyone who has read that story has laughed. how could this happen? >> it can't. as far as i know, the u.s. government doesn't have the ability to go out and buy sovereign debt from other countries, even though the federa