Greece 5Y Credit Default Swaps At 1372; Up From 399 a Year Ago (Greece 5Y CDS Chart)

Greece 5Y CDS (Bloomberg)

Greece 5Y CDSs (credit default swaps) are trading at 1372bps, up from 399bps in January 2010 ("1/30/2010: Pricing of Greek CDS, 10Y Bond Yields Sense Risk (CDS 399bps, 10Y 6.85%"). That is up 243% in a year and three months folks. Did you (or Greece?) scoop some in your retail brokerage account? Ha. Anyone know when CDS will be available for retail consumption? E-mini CDS? Credit default swaps are insurance policies on debt that are priced in basis points per year (the premium or spread). Greece 5Y credit default swaps, similar to CDS on subprime mortgage-backed securities in 2007/8, have been rising for three years now and reflect the country's poor financial health. For more information read announcements made by S&P and Moody's a few days ago. To your left is the 5 year chart of Greece 5Y CDS via Bloomberg.

Recent articles:

Greece restructuring ‘only a matter of time - eFinancialNews

EU and IMF start key Athens visit as Greeks strike - Reuters

EU paymaster Merkel guarded on new aid for Greece - Reuters

Greece will need more aid (Official says Athens hopes for a new $86 billion financing package) - WSJ

Milligan Says `Ultimately' Greece Must Restructure Debt - Bloomberg Video via Washington Post

Roubini’s guide to a Greek debt restructuring - FT Alphaville

Greece taps markets after rating cut, EU mulls help - Reuters

"Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou lashed out at financial markets late on Monday, accusing them of lack of transparency and corruption.

"Profiteering, CDS, derivatives traded without any transparency are threatening to blow up whole countries," he told an anti-corruption conference." /ouch