Submitted by Chris Hamilton,
What do Sovereign bond interest rates represent???
If I knew nothing about the growth, the debt, the inflation, the exporters vs. importers, the serial defaulters, currency manipulators, hot-money or conversely deflation fighters, etc. etc. and simply grouped the nations of the world by interest rates paid on 1yr and 10yr sovereign debt…well I’d get a funny feeling the rates paid have a stronger correlation to the relationship of the nations to the US than any other variable. I’d wonder if your status with the central bank cabal was more important than your ability to repay the loaned money? Luckily I know better!
Some very notable rates…
- PIIGS are amazing and now thanks to the EU’s LTRO are dirt cheap…(PIIGS 1yr / 10yr yields)= Portugal 0.05% / 3.75% , Ireland 0.12% / 2.18%, Italy 0.27% / 2.74%, Greece 2% / 6.3%, Spain 0.13% / 2.50%...Serial defaulters need not pay more for lending ever again!?!
- Italy with the world’s 3rd largest aggregate debt, no growth, and no enforceable tax laws have blended rates that are ludicrous and indicative of institutional fraud…in fact, that can be said of nearly all these rates.
- Australia and New Zealand are the only “outliers” paying up on yields and generally sitting in the wrong classifications.
1 yr interest rates
US Pals and/or “deflation-istas”:
Belgium 0.02%, France 0.024%, Netherlands 0.03%, Germany 0.036%, Switzerland 0.05%, Japan 0.055%, Czech Rep 0.09%, US 0.09%, Ireland 0.12%, Spain 0.13%, Hong Kong 0.14%, Sweden 0.25% Denmark 0.25%, Italy 0.27%, Latvia/Lithuania 0.3%, Singapore .0.35%, UK 0.41%, Portugal 0.5%, Israel 0.53%, Taiwan 0.6%, Austria 0.7%, Qatar 0.7%, Canada 1%, Saudi Arabia 1%, Bulgaria 1.26%, Norway 1.33%,
US “fence sitters”:
Hungary 1.98%, Greece 2%, Philippines 2.07%, Thailand 2.14%, Poland 2.31%, S. Korea 2.37%, Australia 2.5%
US naughty list and/or importers of US inflation:
Mexico 3%, Chile 3.1%, Malaysia 3.3%, China 3.74%, New Zealand 3.9%, Vietnam 4.6%, Colombia 5%, Iceland 5%, S. Africa 6%, Sri Lanka 6.4%, Indonesia 7.25%, Russia 8.6%, India 8.7%, Venezuela 9.7%, Turkey 9.75%, Pakistan 10.1%, Kenya 10.27%, Brazil 11.2%, Egypt 12.2%, Argentina ???, Ukraine 20%
10 yr interest rate
US Buds and/or “deflation-istas”:
Switzerland 0.44%, Japan 0.51%, Germany 1.06%, Finland 1.23%, Netherlands 1.26%, Austria 1.34%, Denmark 1.42%, Czech Rep 1.45%, France 1.46%, Belgium 1.47%, Taiwan 1.59%, Sweden 1.62%, Hong Kong 2.02%, Canada 2.09%, Ireland 2.18%, Norway 2.35%, Singapore 2.38%, US 2.43%, UK 2.49%, Spain 2.50%, Latvia/Lithuania 2.6%, Israel 2.72%, Italy 2.74%, Qatar 3.04%, S. Korea 3.06%, Poland 3.37%, Australia 3.40%, Portugal 3.75%
US “fence sitters”:
Thailand 3.4%, Bulgaria 3.5%, Malaysia 3.89%, New Zealand 4.2%, Philippines 4.33%
US “haters” and/or importers of US inflation:
Chile 4.24%, China 4.3%, Hungary 5.07%, Peru 5.2%, Mexico 5.71%, Greece 6.3%, Colombia 6.66%, Iceland 7.28%, Sri Lanka 7.5%, S. Africa 8.14%, Vietnam 8.21%, Indonesia 8.25%, India 8.85%, Argentina 9%?, Turkey 9.32%, Russia 9.38%, Venezuela 11.7%, Brazil 11.97%, Kenya 12.1%, Pakistan 13.2%, Egypt 15.9%
* * *
Extra credit:
1 mo interest rates
Germany <-0.025%>, Switzerland <-0.015%>, France 0.008%, US 0.03% (US was 5.22% in Feb ’07), UK 0.031%, Russia 9.55% - but these rates are only for central banker pals worldwide…
Consumer Rates
While consumer rates in America for non-bankers are a little higher…
- Credit card rates are a minimum of 10.5% easily up to 30%
- Auto loan (60mo, new car) @ 3.2%
- Mortgage (30yr fix) @ 4.3%
- Stafford student loan @ 4.66%
And poor, poor savers…not quite keeping up with inflation (somewhere between 2% and 10%...like the Fed you can pick the rate that suits you best)...
- 1yr CD @ 0.6%
- Savings accounts @ 0.1% - 0.3%
So does that mean that US savers and credit card spenders are 'friend' or 'foe'? [36]
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