It is Hungary This Time!

US stock market dropped precipitously yesterday as Hungary spooked investors with another potential sovereign debt default after Greece.

From Wall Street Journal

Lajos Kosa, vice president of the right-leaning Fidesz party, which won an overwhelming victory in the April elections, said Thursday that Hungary was in a Greek-style sovereign-debt crisis. And Friday, the prime minister's spokesman, Peter Szijjarto, roiled markets by saying the economic situation is severe and that Hungary isn't likely to meet budget-deficit targets prescribed by the International Monetary Fund.

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Mr. Szijjarto's remarks clobbered the Hungarian forint and the euro Friday. The reaction spilled over into sovereign debt-insurance markets across Europe and into the currencies of Poland and the Czech Republic, the two other large non-euro countries in the former Communist east.


The euro sank below $1.20 to a fresh four-year low, trading at $1.1966 late Friday in New York. The cost to insure against sovereign debt default rose sharply early Friday in Europe—to the highest levels in nearly a month for Greece and Portugal. Bigger economies, such as Spain and Italy, also saw debt-default insurance costs rise to their highest levels since at least the start of 2009, according to data provider Markit.

Mr. Szijjarto said at a news conference that Hungary's new government is "ready to avert the Greek road," but he added that "there is nobody in the country apart from the previous government who still says the budget deficit of 3.8% of gross domestic product can be reached." That is the IMF's target for this year.