Who would invest their wealth at a negative rate of return? This happened today when French bonds were offered at a negative interest rate. Denmark increased their negative ROI last week. At this rate (pun intended), the European crisis will escalate very quickly. Egan Jones just downgraded the Netherlands and Austria to A with a negative outlook. Patriot Coal (PCX) filed for bankruptcy today.
From Reuters:
Alcoa Inc posted a second-quarter loss as a slump in aluminum prices to near two-year lows offset growing demand in the aerospace and automobile markets.
From Zerohedge:
South American Silver stock plummets as Bolivia announces it will nationalize one of world’s largest silver deposits. Of course, while this is good news for the actual precious metals as it means much more supply is coming offline, it is very bad for mining and extraction companies such as South American Silver, which stand to lose one after another property to a repeat of last year’s wave of nationalization. Indeed, at last check SAC.TO was down 27% today alone and plunging.
David DeGerolamo
From Yahoo News:
PARIS (AP) — France’s government has sold short-term bonds at negative interest rates for the first time, a sign of investor confidence despite concerns about French debts and the wider eurozone.
Despite the dropping rates, France’s economic outlook is stagnant. President Francois Hollande said Monday that growth in the first half of this year is expected to be “nil.”
Yields, or borrowing rates, have been falling on French medium and long-term bonds in auctions over the past couple of months, as investors flock to the perceived safety of Europe’s larger economies.
In a sale Monday, the treasury sold three-month bonds at -0.005 percent, and six-month bonds at -0.006 percent. The treasury agency says it’s the first time they have registered negative yields.
