Russia is ready in principle to buy Spanish government debt once debt strategy is determined, according to a presidential aide
Investors are increasing bearish trades around the world by the most in at least five years, convinced the lowest valuations since 2009 will prove no barrier to losses after $11 trillion was erased from equities. Borrowed shares, an indication of short selling, climbed to 11.6 percent of stock last month from 9.5 percent in July, the biggest increase since at least 2006, according to information compiled for Bloomberg by Data Explorers, a London-based research firm. Trades that profit when Chinese equities decline have reached a four-year high and bearish bets in the U.S. are the most since 2009, exchange data … (full story)
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are running out of road. Whether to allow Greece to default and how to manage the fallout, questions they have tried to avoid for more than a year, may finally require answers as European officials turn to fortifying banks and consider ways of easing Greece’s debt load. It costs $6 million plus $100,000 a year to insure $10 million of Greek securities for five years, with credit-insurance prices pointing to a 91 percent chance of default. As the German chancellor and French president prepare to meet in two days for their eighth bilateral summit in 20 months, Merkel has cited … (full story)
Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded the senior debt and deposit ratings of 12 UK financial institutions and confirmed the ratings of 1 institution. This concludes its review of systemic support assumptions from the UK government for these institutions initiated on 24 May 2011. The downgrades have been caused by Moody's reassessment of the support environment in the UK which has resulted in the removal of systemic support for 7 smaller institutions and the reduction of systemic support by one to three notches for 5 larger, more systemically important financial institutions. According to Moody's, … (full story)
