Worthless. That’s what the ratings agencies are. A day ago they said fears were overblown toward Ireland and that it deserved its AAA rating. Today, it puts it on watch for a downgrade. What happened in the last 24-hours?
The spread between Irish and German debt has widen to 281 bp in the wake of the Fitch move, Reuters reports; the widest in 5 weeks. In a currency union, spreads between the government bonds of the members should be minimal.