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600 trillion us dollar CDS market

06 November 2008 1 comment

Retired member

With the sum of $600 trillion CDS, it now looks as though the sub-prime crisis is a relatively benign subject.

It is safe to say that a lot of these CDS' spread have increased because of the current economic crisis and the number of defaults. How much of this $600 trillion CDS is affected by credit defaults is a very good thing to know at this point. Will CDS sellers be able to fund these losses?

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Comments: (2)

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

06 November 2008

Actually, the $600 trillion figure refers to the total OTC derivatives market. The figure for CDS swaps is approximately ten per cent of that value, or $60 trillion.

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A Finextra member

06 November 2008

Thanks for the $60 trillion correction, Paul. It's still a tidy sum and worrisome. It could be the next new term that moms and pops will want to understand after sub-prime

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