Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Japan’s credit rating sent a shudder through markets on Thursday. That was followed, as usual, by the more sober realisation that what rating agencies say about the nation’s creditworthiness is nearly irrelevant. Since Japan sells 94.5 per cent of its debt domestically, what really matters is that the public sector keeps the faith of the private sector. So far, it has done so. Bond auctions continue to be well covered. Yields are rising, but still low.
周四,標準普爾(Standard & Poor)下調日本信用評級的消息曾令市場不寒而栗。與往常一樣,稍后人們更清醒地意識到,評級機構對于一個國家信用可靠性的評價幾乎是不相干的。由于日本國債有94.5%是在國內銷售的,真正重要的是公共部門繼續得到私人部門的信任。迄今為止日本在這方面并無問題。債券拍賣繼續得到充分認購。收益率雖不斷上升,但仍處于低位。