Market continues to fall as market worries turn to Portugal

The Dow Jones Industrials finished down nearly 2% at 10,992, a fall of 213 points as Greek Debt worries drove  the sell off. The FTSE 100 is currently down 55 points at 5,547 as the Athens stock exchange bans short selling for 2 months to try and stem share price falls and the the Portugal stock market also fell heavily this morning. Focus has shifted to Portugal following S&P's debt downgrade as the next potential bail out victim.


After weeks of looking way too expensive, there are several stocks that are beginning to move into the value zone.

FTSE drops 150 points on Greece, Portugal worries

The FTSE 100 dropped 150 points or 2.6% to finish at 5,604 whilst the DOW Jones industrials are currently down 101 at 11,101. The FTSE was hit hard as commodity related stocks took a dive as the "safe haven" U.S. dollar strengthened (e.g. BHP Billiton down 4.2%, Rio Tinto down 5.2%). The reason was debt rating agency S&P's cut to Greece’s credit rating to junk and also cut its rating on Portuguese government debt. 

Greece’s rating on the short-term debt is cut to BB+ from BBB+, while the long-term rating has been lowered to B from A-2. Both ratings are below what is considered “investment grade”. The outlook for Greece is also negative. Portuguese government debt was cut by two notches to A- FROM A+, saying the downgrade reflects “the amplified risks Portugal faces” and the outlook on its rating is negative.

FTSE 100 component Reckitt Benckiser also fell over 4% to £34.97 as the company issued a strong performance in Q1 with earnings rising 14% to £461 million but warned of the potential impact of generic Suboxone competition in the U.S. during 2010 (these risks have been highlighted in a previous Contrarian Investor UK story).

Soros warns of Greek death spiral

The man that "broke the Bank of England" George Soros,  has said that Greece still faces the danger of a “death spiral” because the cost of borrowing in the euro region’s rescue package is too expensive.

At a meeting yesterday he said "If you start charging very high rates as the market does in anticipation of solvency then that pushes you into insolvency. If they don’t they have then to tighten even further, then your tax receipts go down and the economy goes further into tanking and then you go into a death spiral. That is the danger that is still remaining. The consequences of Greece leaving the euro would be the disintegration of the euro,” Soros said. “The disintegration of the euro would take a very long way toward the disintegration of the European Union.

On April 11 the Euro zone countries agreed a 30 billion-euro ($41 billion) aid package to Greece which gave it loans at 5 percent.

Positive start to March on both sides of the Atlantic

The FTSE 100 is currently up 28 points to 5,838 with DOW Futures up 35 to 10,361. Gains in the FTSE were pruned, after Prudential’s announcement that it was going ahead with the purchase of AIG’s Asian business for £23 billion ($35.5) sent the insurer down 11% to £5.34 (when the shares came back from suspension at 10.30, they were down 14%). The acquisition will be funded by a $20bn rights issue, the largest ever seen in the UK. Prudential will also issue $5bn of senior debt, while AIG will receive $5.5bn in new Prudential shares plus $3bn of convertible shares and $2bn of preferred shares. AIG is 80% owned by the US government, which will mean the US taxpayer owning a stake in the UK’s largest insurer.



The news of a possible €25-30 billion bail-out of Greece by Germany and France was circulating this morning. Greek debt would be purchased in the form of bonds, through their respective state owned banks. But the Greek government will need to commit to at least €4bn worth of cuts in public spending which given union opposition may be difficult to execute.


The British Pound has continued to fall heavily against the U.S dollar and Euro today after a weekend opinion poll put Labour only 2 points behind the Conservatives and there were fears that the Prudential deal with AIG would mean it would need to sell the Pound Sterling to buy U.S. dollars . The pound/dollar hit £1.49, a 2% fall on the day. Currency investors are increasing worried that the increasing likelihood of a “hung” parliament will delay any moves to reduce the size of the U.K. budget deficit.