PIIGS in a poke

Eurozone government debt is turning investors away from the highly publicised Piigs nations and onto countries with different budgetary issues

In 2010, the tale of sovereign debt in the eurozone region can be separated into Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (the Piigs) vs the other countries (the non-Piigs). Investors have been rotating away from highly publicised Piigs in favour of debt from countries that are not experiencing the same financial and fiscal budgetary issues. From the perspective of the entire region, eurozone government debt has provided positive returns for investors in 2010. The S&P Eurozone Government Bond Index, capturing all eurozone sovereign debt with a maturity greater than one year, has return...