Illinois Bond Spreads Explode As Market Pukes On Latest Batch Of Bad News

zerohedge.com / by Tyler Durden / Jun 12, 2017 5:50 PM

On June 1, first S&P the Moody’s almost concurrently downgraded Illinois to the lowest non-Junk rating, BB+/Baa3 respectively, with both rating agencies warning that the ongoing legislative gridlock and budget crisis need to be resolved, or else Illinois will be the first ever US state downgraded to junk status.

S&P analyst Gabriel Petek explicitly warned that “the unrelenting political brinkmanship now poses a threat to the timely payment of the state’s core priority payments” and warned about Illinois’ inability to pass a budget for the past two years amid a clash between the Democrat-run legislature and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. As we have documented previously, the ongoing confrontation has left the fifth most-populous US state with a record $14.5 billion of unpaid bills, ravaged entities like universities and social service providers that rely on state aid and undermined Illinois’s standing in the bond market, where investors have demanded higher premiums for the risk of owning its debt.

Bypassing its traditional 90-day review, a terse S&P also warned that Illinois will likely be downgraded around July 1, when the new fiscal year begins if leaders haven’t agreed on a budget that starts addressing the state’s chronic deficits.

Unfortunately for Illinois, and its bondholders, the downgrade – and the subsequent imminent “junking” – was just the tip of the iceberg.

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