Alea points out that 5 year CDS spreads on Treasuries are alarming. (82 basis points). Discuss.

Comments (36)

  1. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:11 PM

    I can’t wait to get in line to take U.S. governement assets when they bankrupt, I am going to get a Stealth.

  2. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    Too long. Didn’t read

  3. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    Wasnt Geithner just on with Maria Bartaromo saying “We WILL not need any more Chinese money”?

  4. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:14 PM

    CDS on the US really dont trade kids..not a very intersting mkt

  5. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:15 PM

    3-
    I heard a rumor that the Chinese government was going to cap salaries of U.S. Congressmen until they pay back all the money the Chinese government has provided to keep the U.S. afloat.

  6. Posted by NAS Keflavik boi | February 6, 2009 at 12:17 PM

    @ 4- that makes sense — seems like it would be ridiculous easy money to write that shit — like who’s gonna actually collect when the blood is running in the street. So where the frig does this number come from?

  7. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:20 PM

    its quoted OTC, just very little trading in it

  8. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:22 PM

    This CDS stuff is highly illiquid. Who cares? I rather go to the casino.

  9. Posted by Ben_H | February 6, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    It’s been trading at these levels (DB quoted 85/95) all week. To be fair, all the developed sovs have been widening (UK at 127/130!) in the past few months. I heard of one fund manager that set up a vehicle to get people short exposure to European sovs middle of last year. Definitely more trading in the EUropean names than in US. What people have said over the years about US CDS is that the only realistic scenario where you could actually collect (i.e. there is still a counterparty standing) is if COngress at some point refuses to raise the debt ceiling for some period of time and you get a technical default that counts as a credit event. There would surely be deliverables that would happen to be trading below par at that time, even if everyone knew that the technical default would be cured in relatively short order.

  10. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    Is the 82bps bid, offer or last trade? My guess is that it is a BS offer in an illiquid market.

  11. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    Leon Panetta and other lobbyists salaries are being capped, so are Hollywood movie stars. Government privacy policy – ‘embarass the hell out of anybody we can’. Hey , let’s send out the Madoff investors and put their home address on also…

  12. Posted by Equity Private | February 6, 2009 at 12:29 PM

    Somehow I just knew we’d get a post-grad education on Treasury CDS markets based on this post. Yay Dealbreaker!

  13. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:43 PM

    this is total BS- seriously, DB has now jumped the shark, completely overrun by Freepers in the comments and their nonsense taken to the Front Page.

  14. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:45 PM

    Once again interesting, but it is an illiquid market. Who is really buying it because I wouldn’t mind selling it.

  15. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:47 PM

    might as well trade CDS on dirt…BTW why would CDS on USgovt be inside of Iswaps 5yr currently 64bps?

  16. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:47 PM

    @13….Fuh, What?!?!??
    ~Fake Geico Caveman

  17. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 12:48 PM

    double down bitches

  18. Posted by Suits | February 6, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    I got dirt CDS bid 500. Setting up SPV to leverage that shit 4-1.

  19. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 1:06 PM

    these CDS contracts reference gov;t obligations in foreign securities. what they price, for example, is the risk that the US fed govt cannot pay on euro-denominated paper

  20. Posted by motirocks | February 6, 2009 at 1:14 PM

    respect @3

  21. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 1:23 PM

    This site and every other like it has thrived on systemic panic. The fear and uncertainty keeps us borderline manic for more information. Truth is that the worst may over and it will be a painful but uphill battle from here for a year or so. This is bad news for sites that have thrived on the panic. So look for more and more headlines about things like bogus CDS spreads on US obligations etc as sites see hit counts dwindle in value like an Alt-A MBS in Q4 08.

  22. Posted by american bandersnatch | February 6, 2009 at 1:30 PM

    I will write Bruce Willis sized asteroid armageddon insurance for a relatively low premoum.

  23. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 1:38 PM

    might as well trade CDS on dirt…BTW why would CDS on USgovt be inside of Iswaps 5yr currently 64bps?

  24. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 1:39 PM

    I’ll sell CDS on T-bills right now. Who wants some?

  25. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 1:55 PM

    writing CDS for the US gov is like promising to a fruit delivery after a nuclear armaggedon. write away. come and collect in hell.

  26. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 3:40 PM

    What good are CDS’s on an organization that can LITERALLY print money?

  27. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 4:19 PM

    Market too illiquid. didn’t trade

  28. Posted by guest | February 6, 2009 at 5:07 PM

    Is there any non-USD denominated gov. debt?
    Isn’t CDS pointless seeing as the US could always meet any payment on its debt by just printing more dollars?
    If the Fed is given authority to purchase treasuries this would be pure money printing…Under a potential default scenario this could always be invoked to raise whatever USD-denominated payment is necessary.

  29. Posted by Ben_H | February 6, 2009 at 5:36 PM

    @20 — True for EM sovereigns, but not true for developed market sovereigns. US contract references treasuries. UK contract references UKTs. The contracts, though, can be quantoed into other currencies, for a cost. I.e. you can buy Italy CDS in EUR or buy it 10bps higher in USD (people get the joke about correlation now, though they didn’t always).

  30. Posted by guest | February 7, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    Nice work again, EP. My question to anyone buying protection on the US is who is your counterparty and what are their ratings (using either internal or external ratings)? Most banks are rated AA at best. Good luck telling risk management that you hedged AAA risk with a AA or A rated counterparty. @6, 18, 25 and 26 get the joke.
    - Fixed Income

  31. Posted by guest | February 8, 2009 at 4:07 AM

    @31: The point is to sell them back into the market once the US becomes a little more fucked. No one actually expects to collect.

  32. Posted by guest | February 8, 2009 at 7:14 PM

    Sell ‘em til your hands bleed…if they go to payoff, who’s going to pay with what currency…coconut shells???

  33. Posted by guest | February 8, 2009 at 9:42 PM

    @33
    Oh, it’s a game of musical chairs.

  34. Posted by Vlora | September 28, 2011 at 3:06 AM

    What liberatnig knowledge. Give me liberty or give me death.

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  36. Posted by hpdhoy | October 2, 2011 at 10:53 AM

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