Deal Or No Deal? Argentina Declared In Selective Default, Holds Press Conference At 5:30pm

After an exuberant day in Argentine bond and stock markets, we are nearing a decision. With a handful of hours left until it’s all over, various ‘deal’s have been proposed today from Argentine bankers as a last-minute rescue package. S&P has already decided that it’s a done deal:

*ARGENTINA CUT TO SD FROM CCC- BY S&P
*ARGENTINA DEFAULTED ON $13B IN FOREIGN DEBT, S&P SAYS
*ARGENTINA MISSED $539M BOND PAYMENT, S&P SAYS

And now, Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof will speak in a press conference at country’s consulate in Manhattan (ironically a block from the holdouts’ office).

The hope:

“The idea is to get a stay (suspension of the court order) to reach January,” said Ribeiro Mendonça. “Clearly there’s a concern. There are no winners in a default scenario that brings lower levels of economic activity and a higher jobless rate. The banking sector is going to be the one that contributes the most because it is linked to the debt restructuring.”

The reality from S&P,

“We are… lowering our long-and short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Argentina to selective default (‘SD’) from ‘CCC-/C’,” said the agency’s release, “indicating that Argentina defaulted on some of its foreign currency obligations. At the same time, we are removing the ‘CCC-/C’ foreign currency ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on July 1, 2014.”

Things do not look good: