Bond yields dip after Fitch upgrade

Greek government bond yields dipped early yesterday after Fitch became the second ratings agency to upgrade it to Single B status, marking another milestone in the debt-laden eurozone state’s slow journey away from default territory. The ratings agency upgraded the country’s long-term foreigncurrency issuer default ratings to Bfrom CCC late on Friday, citing reduced political risk and sustained economic growth. Short-dated Greek government bond yields hit 3.25 percent at one point during the day, close to its lowest since 2009, a level hit earlier this month. The yield on Greece’s 10-year government bond dropped five basis points in early trade to 5.58 percent before trading flat. “Greece is still a credit that is risky and volatile, but at least it’s now not one step away from default but two steps away,” said Daniel Lenz, a strategist with Germany’s DZ Bank. “I think an upgrade was largely priced in so you won’t see a huge amount of spread tightening – but still, it’s possible that some high-yield investors would consider a small investment in Greece now.” Standard & Poor’s upgraded the country to B- a month ago. Moody’s still has a Caa2 rating on the country. of the year, data compiled by the IRI research company have revealed, pointing to the smallest decrease since 2015 and a significant improvement from the 8.8 percent drop recorded in the first half of 2016 – attributed in part to the collapse of the Marinopoulos chain. May was the best month for supermarkets in the first half of 2017 as sales increased 4.6 percent compared to the same month last year, while the uptick continued in June, albeit to a smaller extent, at 1.9 percent. Moreover, while 2016 saw a contraction in sales in all three major categories, namely household goods, personal care products and foodstuffs, the first half of this year saw foodstuffs faring slightly better by 0.2 percent in