Greek Bond Yields, CDS Spreads Find New Ways to Go Higher, Wider

Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2011

It seems hard to imagine Greek debt looking much worse, but it’s finding a way to do that today.

Greek bond prices are falling again, and the spread between yields on Greek debt and relatively safe German bunds is yawning wider.

Two-year Greek debt yields a hefty 25.4%, which is 23.8 percentage points higher than German debt, about 18.5 basis points wider than yesterday. Ten-year Greek bonds yield 17.2%, and their gap over German bunds is 14.1 percentage points, about 45 basis points wider than a day ago.

The costs of insuring against a Greek debt default are setting new records. One-year CDS insurance is up nearly 1%, and 3-year CDS spreads are up 3%, according to Markit data.

More