May 28, 2010

Very soon the vultures will descend on some European sovereign bond markets

Sir Gillian Tett writes about future haircuts on Greek and other sovereign debt that “will continue to poison the bond markets, “Bondholders jittery over who will bear Greek losses” May 28.

Yes, there will surely be a lot more of it in line but let me assure her that already many bondholders are de-facto taking their share of hair cutting by way of the markets, as interest rates for these borrowers is shooting up, and, if nothing is done, sooner or later the vultures, those who have been preying on other lesser markets might descend in full force on Europe.

There is little anyone can actually do against a market that has discovered something as being unsustainable, and so the decision the European governments have to make now is more about who they wish to encounter on the other side of the negotiation table... the traditional bondholders or the vultures?

When is real Armageddon more likely to occur, when we are impacted or when we discover that we are going to be impacted?