It's Portugal Against The Bond Traders

摘要

Since the start of the Greek crisis, bond investors have been eyeing Portugal as next in line for a bailout-if not default. As the Lisbon stock index sank (down more than 14 percent so far this year) and the credit default swaps market ranked Portuguese debt alongside that of Lebanon, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and his colleagues fought back, swearing that their country, one of the euro zone's poorest, would not go begging to Brussels. Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos put it this way after Standard & Poor's Apr. 27 downgrade of Portuguese debt: "There are no reasons for markets to look at Portugal as they have been doing with Greece."