“The bailout that rescued Greece from a looming default has failed to restore confidence in credit markets, where traders are paying nine times more to insure European government bonds than they are for Treasuries.
While European stocks are off to their best start since 1998, the relative cost of credit default swaps has risen to a record, more than double the July level, according to CMA. To obtain 130 billion euros ($175 billion) in aid to help pay interest on bonds due March 20, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos agreed to reduce debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from about 160 percent last year.
While chances of defaults and the breakup of the euro may have diminished, investors are no longer rewarding European governments for reducing spending to cut debt as their economies shrink. U.S. bond yields have stayed near record lows and growth is accelerating as President Barack Obama uses a different strategy, more than doubling the amount of outstanding debt to $10 trillion to fuel the recovery.
“Bond markets don’t believe in the same story that stock markets do,” Robin Marshall, director of fixed income in London at Smith & Williamson Investment Management, which oversees about $18 billion, said in a Feb. 22 interview. “Countries are still saddled with huge debt, are facing either economic downturn or recession.”
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