1.   According to analysts, a wider spread typically reflects increased investor concern that the Fed is not raising interest rates fast enough to subdue inflation.

2.   The higher spread reflects the higher interest rate investors demand for investing in the tobacco business, analysts said.

3.   The Justice Department is investigating whether those spreads reflect illegal collusion among market makers.

4.   The narrowing spread reflected the waning risk that investors perceive when investing in Spain instead of Germany.

5.   The narrowing spread reflects the greater drop in the price of short-term notes, the value of which is more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations.

6.   The spread reflects the higher risk premium demanded by investors to invest in gilts rather than bunds.

7.   The spread reflects the risk premium investors demand to buy gilts rather than bunds.

8.   The spread reflects the risk premium investors are demanding to invest in gilts rather than Treasuries or bunds.

9.   The spreads reflect two different worries, said Michael Rosenberg, head of international fixed-income research at Merrill Lynch.

10.   The spread already reflects the view that the Fed is poised to trim interest rates, Westgate said.