euro zone government bonds

LONDON: Economic optimists have for years been misguidedly predicting the twilight of the boring, safety-first bond market. And the year gone by was another one that proved them wrong, particularly in the euro zone. Investors who bought government bonds from euro zone countries — with the admittedly large exception of Italy — at the start of 2018 booked a healthy profit if they held them to the end of the year. Even with the European Central Bank dialling back its stimulus, the dulling of a once-rosy growth outlook and…