D-Day for PIIGS ADRs (TI, EWI, PT, IRL, AIB, IRE, NBG, EWP, STD, BBVA, SNF)

If you are surprised about the newest crash scenario boiling up outside of Greece, this is something we have been covering routinely.  While the beastly pace is surprising, how big of a surprise is this?  Greece has its default issues well-known, and Italy is coming more and more into light as it is the least discussed member of the PIIGS.  Portugal, Ireland, and Spain are all well-known to be suffering from variations of the same woes in Greece.

Greece’s austerity measures are merely a delay for the inevitable by any count we can see.  When one falls, the dominoes take out the closest members as well.  That leaves Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and then Italy.  We could tell you again about the credit default swaps widening out with sovereign bond yields, but perhaps the best measurement today would be in the ADRs.  To put this in perspective: what you are seeing in the ADRs today from the lands of the PIIGS is equivalent to the DJIA being down somewhere in the vicinity of 400 to 600 points in one day alone.  Here are just some of the ADRs and funds for investors to review:

Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) is down 7.7% at $11.61 and the 52-week range is $10.46 to $16.04

iShares MSCI Italy Index (NYSE: EWI) is down 6.2% at $15.40 and its 52-week range is $13.21 to $20.15.

Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT) is down 6.2% at $8.81 and the 52-week range is $8.80 to $15.24.  That low was hit today.

The New Ireland Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IRL) is actually holding up better than its peers so far this year.  The share price today is down 3.8% at $8.02 and the 52-week range is $5.55 to $8.77.

Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) is down 5% at $1.69 and the 52-week range is $1.61 to $13.65.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is down 4.7% at $1.01 and the 52-week range is $1.00 to $4.86.  That new low was hit today.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is down 6.1% at $1.22 and the 52-week range is $1.17 to $3.23.

iShares MSCI Spain Index (NYSE: EWP) is down 5% at $37.86 and the 52-week range is $33.82 to $45.99.

Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF) is down 5.1% and the 52-week range is $20.07 to $27.61.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is down 5.75% at $10.16 and the 52-week range is $9.43 to $13.75.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) is down 7% at $9.98 and the 52-week range is $8.94 to $14.28.

The Ibero-America Fund, Inc. (NYSE: SNF) is a small closed-end fund for Spain with about $67 million in assets, but it is actually in the process of approving the liquidation and dissolution of the fund and any new buyers are outside of the record date for that voting process.  This small fund is down 2.5% at $7.16 and the 52-week range is $5.54 to $7.77.

JON C. OGG