Australia: Negative rating outlook – Westpac

S&P has moved Australia’s rating outlook to ‘Negative’. Analysts at Westpac Institutional Bank would not expect this to evolve into a full downgrade.

Key quotes

“In a move similar to their actions on 7 July 2016, S&P has today revised its outlook for Australia’s sovereign long term debt rating from Stable to Negative.”

“S&P noted that ‘the negative outlook reflects our view that Australia faces fiscal and economic risks that are tilted toward the downside’.”

“In our view, there will not be any major re-pricing of Australia’s risk-reward profile. The initial responses in both bonds and the currency seem to concur, as both have been  muted, with yields across the curve basically unchanged and the AUD/USD cross lower by around 30 ticks.”