Considering both entities are ‘backed‘ one way or another by the US Government, it is perhaps not a total surprise that the risk of Ukraine government bonds and the risk of Tesla bonds are ‘similar’…
But the last few days have seen the world’s 4th largest automaker (by market cap) trade at a more risky level that the war-torn, coup-prone, neo-nazi-run nation of Ukraine.
However, this is just further evidence of the chaotic reach for yield occurring globally in the junkiest of sovereign debt.
As Bloomberg notes, as recently as 1999, investors seeking a 6 percent yield on a government bond could have bought 10-year U.S. Treasuries. These days they can’t even get that from Mongolia.
Central-bank bond buying has compressed yields in developed markets to unprecedented levels, pushing investors further down the risk spectrum in a hunt for higher returns.
Yields on Mongolian dollar bonds maturing in 2021 fell below 6 percent for the first time on record late last month after dropping 3.5 percentage points this year.
Yields on 2019-maturity Ukrainian debt and seven-year Belarussian bonds issued in June have also moved below 6 percent in the past two months. All three former Communist nations have a Bloomberg Composite rating of CCC+, or seven levels below investment grade.
We have four simple words for all of the above… “This Can’t End Well”
