Greece Leads Drop in Sovereign Bond Risk on Agreement of Bailout Expansion
By Abigail Moses - Mar 14, 2011 11:25 AM GMT+0100 Mon Mar 14 10:25:15 GMT 2011
March 14 (Bloomberg)
Europe’s peripheral governments led a decline in the cost of insuring the region’s debt, after leaders agreed to expand the rescue fund for indebted nations.
Credit-default swaps on Greece tumbled 58 basis points to 985, while contracts on Italy fell 11 to 169,
Portugal dropped 28 to 485 and
Spain declined 17 to 240, according to CMA. The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of 15 governments was 13 basis points lower at 176, the biggest drop in five weeks.
European Union policy makers agreed to widen the scope of their 440 billion-euro ($614 billion) bailout fund and ease terms of Greek rescue loans. Swaps widened ahead of the meeting on speculation agreement wouldn’t be reached before a March 24- 25 summit, where the measures are now due for final approval.
“The EU leaders have pulled a few rabbits out of the hat,”
Jim Reid, head of fundamental strategy at Deutsche Bank AG in
London, wrote in a note to investors. “It’s by no means a gamechanger and there is event risk leading up to the summit and quite a few things to nail down.”
Swaps on Ireland bucked the trend, rising 18 basis points to 616. Officials rejected Ireland’s bid for lower borrowing costs for bailout loans as Prime Minister
Enda Kenny refused to yield to calls to raise its 12.5 percent company tax rate.
The cost of insuring European bank bonds also fell, with the Markit iTraxx Financial Index of 25 banks and insurers 10.5 basis points lower at 155 and the subordinated index down 15 to 269, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of 50 companies with mostly high-yield credit ratings fell 10 basis points to 387 and the Markit iTraxx
Europe Index of 125 companies with investment- grade ratings declined 3 to 100.5, JPMorgan prices show.
A basis point on a credit-default swap protecting 10 million euros ($13.9 million) of debt from default for five years is equivalent to 1,000 euros a year. Swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements.