Friday, June 24, 2011

Greek Default Insurance Costs Drop

Wall Street Journal
June 24, 2011

The cost of insuring Greek sovereign debt against default using credit default swaps fell early Friday, amid signs European leaders are nearing a deal to support the debt-laden country.

Greece's five-year sovereign CDS were 0.75 percentage point tighter at 19.25/20.75 percentage points, according to one trader.

Portuguese, Spanish and Irish sovereign CDS were unchanged, while Italian five-year protection costs nudged 0.03 percentage point wider to 1.98/2.03.

CDS are derivatives that function like a default insurance contract for debt. A tightening of 0.01 percentage point in five-year CDS spreads equates to a $1,000 decrease in the annual cost of protecting $10 million of debt for five years.

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