Saturday, August 8, 2009

Banana Republic Watch: Credit Default Swaps on Russia Cheaper Than on California

Oh, there is nothing like a global retreat of liquidity to reveal who was wearing a swimsuit. And what wags like Warren Buffett fail to add, when a lot of people were found to be unclad, you also get to see who looks best of a typically not so fetching bunch.

In this case, California is being deemed a worse credit risk that Russia. Of course, that view would change quickly if oil prices were to decline sharply, as some observers like Philip Verlegger predict. But this isn't a fluke. Many emerging markets credits now have CDS spreads below that of many states and New York City.

From Bloomberg

Investor demand for emerging-market bonds is driving the cost of insuring against debt defaults below industrialized governments for the first time.

Credit-default swap prices from Turkey to Indonesia are falling as bonds rise amid signs that their economies are recovering faster than developed nations. As the U.S. and U.K. borrow record amounts to fund bank bailouts and stimulus, Brazil, Russia, India and China have $3 trillion in reserves, up 19 percent from January 2008 and now 43 percent of the worldwide total, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The annual cost of protecting holdings in Turkey’s bonds fell by half to $200,000 per $10 million for five years, or 200 basis points, sinking below New York City swaps for two weeks starting July 22, Bloomberg data show. Indonesia debt insurance dropped below Michigan the next day. Brazil swaps just had their biggest four-month slide ever. For China, protection is near the cheapest in a year. Eleven years after Russia defaulted, investors want less to insure its debt than California’s.

“This would have been impossible to imagine a year ago,â€