Greek Long-Term Bond Sale: Is It Too Soon?

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
By Trey Thoelcke Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Greece reportedly will announce a long-term bond sale as soon as Wednesday, the first time it has had access to capital markets since March 2010. But the question to ask is, is it too soon?

Some are calling this the official end of the European debt crisis. Yet, only two years ago Greece was at the brink of breaking up the entire European Union and it was forced to agree to the largest ever government-debt restructuring.

It is not all sunshine and lollipops for Greece from here. The nation still struggles with sluggish growth, a high debt-to-GDP ratio and the highest unemployment level in the eurozone. However, the International Monetary Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook it expects Greece to return to growth in 2014 and that the current account balance will swing into the black this year too.

Whether investors will buy into the Greek recovery story remains to be seen. The bonds are expected offer a significantly higher yield than many other sovereign bonds, which could tempt more risk-hungry investors, or at least those who have forgotten or choose to overlook the heavy losses such investors suffered just a few years ago.

Moody’s has Greek debt rated at Caa3, or nine notches below investment grade. Standard and Poor’s and Fitch both rank Greece at B-, which is six notches below investment grade.

Greece will announce a 2 billion euro ($2.76 billion) sale of five-year notes, said people familiar with the matter. The notes may begin selling Thursday.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618