Stocks Fall, Bond Risk Rises to Record Before Europe Debt Sales

Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth
Bloomberg
January 10, 2011

Stocks fell worldwide for a fourth day, the longest losing streak since November, and the cost of insuring European sovereign debt against default rose to a record as Portugal, Spain and Italy prepared to borrow at least $43 billion this week. Oil surged.

The MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 nations lost 0.7 percent at 10:55 a.m. New York time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.5 percent to 1,265.74. Credit-default swaps on Portugal jumped 12 basis points to 550, according to CMA, and the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe index climbed a fourth day, reaching a record high. Oil rose as much as 2.2 percent after a leak at an Alaskan pipeline.

Europe’s most indebted governments will hold their first bond auctions this week for 2011, a year when they have to raise about $1 trillion. Germany may be softening its opposition to expanding the 750 billion-euro ($966 billion) rescue facility for the region’s most-indebted countries, after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, declined to repeat the nation’s objections to restocking the fund.

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This article was posted: Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:38 am

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