Ok, well if you’re someone who follows the evolution of the eurozone post-sovereign debt crisis (and that characterization assumes the crisis ever actually abated), then you’re probably watching Portuguese bonds on Monday.
10Y yields plunged more than 30bps as the bonds scream higher after the country was raised to investment grade by S&P last week, ending a painful episode that saw Portugal languish in junk territory since 2012. Have a look at this chart:
“S&P move to BBB- from BB+ may boost index demand in the bonds, with several of the main government bond indices reliant on at least an IG rating from one or more of the three main ratings companies,” Bloomberg writes, stating the obvious.
Here’s the Portugal-Germany spread:
So congratulations Mario Draghi!
Oh, and probably the funniest thing to note about the above is that now, you only get an extra ~30bps for taking on the sovereign risk associated with Portugal versus the U.S. Given what’s going on in Washington, that might actually be more realistic than it seems.
