Portuguese credit now junk status

F&C’s Director of Global Strategy, Ted Scott, reminds investors the verdict comes as no surprise as it is an acknowledgement of reality. In a nutshell, Scott, sums up the Portuguese economy as weak and confirms it remains “very uncompetitive”. “As such, and given the high level of debt to GDP and fiscal deficit ratios, there is very little chance that Portugal would be able to return to the open markets when its current bailout expires in 2013.” Scott points out that this outcome is well understood by the markets which is why the yields on Portuguese bonds have been rising despite the...