After a relatively benign summer, the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) are back in the news again. Moody”s just downgraded Anglo Irish Bank”s senior debt to Baa3, one notch above junk. The subordinated debt is now rated Caa1. The euro also fell on fears that another round of EU intervention might be needed to shore up Ireland”s banking system.
Spain may be poised to lose its PIIGS status. The country had . From the WSJ article:
“The Spanish Treasury received bids for €3.52 billion worth of three-month T-bills and sold €1.17 billion at an average yield of 0.685%, up from 0.624% at the previous auction. It received bids for €3.63 billion worth of six-month T-bills and sold €1.81 billion at an average yield of 1.18%, up from 1.037%.
“The auction went well with good demand and very little concession on price,” said BarCap strategist Giuseppe Maraffino, adding that within the group of peripheral issuers Spain and Italy benefit from more liquid debt markets.”
