European junk debt insurance, bank CDS rise as virus selloff resumes

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) – The cost of insuring low-grade European debt and some major European banks against default climbed further on Wednesday as a rollout of large scale support measures to mitigate the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak failed to immediately calm markets.

The iTraxx Europe crossover index of credit default swaps (CDS), which measures the cost of insuring exposure to a basket of sub-investment grade European companies, jumped 35 bps from Tuesday’s close to 645 bps, data from IHS Markit showed.

Five-year credit default swaps for European lenders also rose with UniCredit and Deutsche Bank both adding 7 bps to 237 bps and 143 bps respectively. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Marc Jones)

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