Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Governments at Greatest Risk of Default: Guess Which U.S. State Joins Nine Sovereigns

This is just sad. From NewsWatch: Energy:

2010 March Default Risk.jpg
CMA
The CMA Sovereign Risk Monitor identifies and ranks the world's most volatile sovereign debt issuers according to percentage changes in their 5 year CDS.

The latest update to credit information group CMA's list of governments at greatest risk of default is a bit sobering -- particularly if you're from the Golden State.

Coming in at No. 10 is California. This might explain the growing interest in returning to offshore oil drilling.

No. 5 Dubai was a surprise a few months ago when news of its credit woes became front page news. The oil rich nation had grown fat and apparently slopping on its oil wealth and had to be bailed out by its neighbors.

The Dubai default issue might actually mean something to Houstonians beyond overseas oil and gas projects, however, as some likely relocated there and bought homes when Halliburton moved its headquarters there. Many likely bought at the height of the bubble, notes one observer, and are probably sucking wind now....MORE