The passing of Greek austerity measures is fuelling a rally in peripheral debt today with Italian, Spanish and Portuguese yields falling across the curve.
However, one should not forget that peripheral economies are still under considerable risk of becoming the next Greece — rising debt and weak economic growth pushing the country to seek a bailout — as a result of tighter financial conditions.
Take this warning from JP Morgan:
Financial conditions have deteriorated far more in peripheral Europe than in the core. The drag from this on peripheral GDP is akin to that seen following the Lehman crisis.
JP Morgan uses analysis based on quantifying the impact of financial market developments and monetary policy actions on economic activity. The main variables the analysis uses is: the three-month LIBOR rate, the yield on investment grade corporate bonds, the spread of high yield corporates over that of high grade, real equity returns, the change in the real exchange rate and bank lending standards for businesses as reported in loan officer surveys.
According to JP Morgan’s calculations, the 838 basis-point rise in the peripheral HY spreads implies a drag of -2.2 percent of GDP relative to what it would otherwise have been, had the HY spread unchanged.
