Just a day after a successful bond auction in Portugal, Spain hopes to raise up to $3.9 billion in its first debt auction of the year. The auction will be a key test of investor appetite for European bonds.
World markets got a boost this week from Japan's pledge to help overly indebted EU nations. What's behind Japan's move? Sure, the spirit of global cooperation is part of it. But much more significant is Tokyo's need to keep pace with Beijing in the influence game.
In a key test of whether it will be able to raise the %u20AC20 billion it needs to avoid a bailout, the Portuguese government hopes to sell %u20AC1.25 billion in a bond auction Wednesday. Will Portugal end up following the path of Ireland and Greece?
Portugal's credit rating may be on its way down. Standard & Poor's warned Tuesday that a downgrade may be coming based on the government's failure to create policies that will boost productivity and cut the country's deficit.