Argentine election surprise triggers crash in peso and bond sell-off
Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:03 am
Read the rest here...The Argentinian peso and government bonds sold off steeply Monday after the country’s center-right President Mauricio Macri performed poorly in primary elections.
Macri lost by a far greater margin than expected on Sunday, early official results showed, casting serious doubt over the incumbent’s re-election chances in October.
Arentina’s peso shed nearly 25% of its value to around 59 per U.S. dollar shortly after the open of trade. The peso had been at 45.25 at its previous close. According to traders cited by Reuters, the peso then hit a record 65 per dollar to mark a 30.3% loss.
The election result had earlier prompted Argentina’s euro-denominated bond to fall almost 9 cents lower, according to data reported by Reuters. The yield, which moves inversely to price, rose almost 3%.
The main Argentine stock market moved lower by 11% shortly after the open of trade.
The opposition ticket of center-left Alberto Fernandez, whose running mate is populist ex-leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, secured 47.7% of the vote, with roughly 99% of the ballots counted.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/argenti ... ation.html
I can't believe this. Who the hell would buy bonds from a country whose very name is synonymous with sovereign debt crisis? Seriously. Defaulting on its debt ranks right up there with soccer as a national pastime.