Last night Standard and Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of Spain to BBB-, from BBB+. This came as a bit of an early surprise for the bond markets. The market was waiting on the other major bond rating company Moody’s to complete its review of its current Baa3 rating which it started in June. Rating […]
Bernanke gets his wish
Last month I wrote about the reaction the market had to the FOMC statement which suggested that QE3 was off the cards. Implied volatility in Fixed Income markets spiked sharply higher and whilst last week’s FOMC statement was little different to the March statement, the press conference that Bernanke gave, has led to the risk […]
S&P not brave enough to downgrade Spain to junk yet
On Tuesday I said that Spain was set to be downgraded and overnight S&P took the decision to downgrade Spain two notches to BBB+, the outlook remains negative meaning that the chances are that another downgrade will come within 3 months as the rating agencies, once again, play catch up. Spanish bond markets have seen […]
Is there any market safe?
The failing of The Netherlands’ Budget talks looks likely to lead to a collapse of the Dutch coalition government. It has led to Moody’s stating that there is a threat to the Dutch Aaa rating. Whilst there is a threat if a new Dutch government went on a wild spending spree, it is not the […]