Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Let the contagion begin - Portugal downgraded

Moody's has pushed Portugal down to junk to Ba2 from Baa1. S&P and Fitch are both at BBB-. It is the belief of the rating agency that another round of official financing will be necessary before private markets will be will to provide financing. This means that Ireland will be next so the dominoes will start to fall.

The Greece issue is not over even with the strong equity rally. The bank deal for maturity extension still has to be made and the ECB still has to fund even if there is a default. Having Portugal start to move to junk starts another slippery slope.

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