The U.S. may want to send Portugal a note of obrigada.It could have the southern European nation, along with other troubled euro-zone countries, to thank for keeping its own borrowing costs in check.
Portugal's mounting struggles again serve as a reminder that the euro zone's fiscal troubles are far from resolved. Such uncertainty helps divert attention from worries about the U.S.'s own fiscal situation and enhances the appeal of U.S. government debt.
On Wednesday, Portugal will auction €1.25 billion ($1.61 billion) worth of five- and 10-year bonds in its first offering of the year. The key question is, at what cost?
Investors have driven up the yield on Portugal's 10-year bonds to more than 7% from below 4% a year ago. The source of its woe is a weak growth outlook and a deeply indebted banking sector heavily reliant upon external funding. Since Greece and Ireland have already received bailouts, many investors are expecting Portugal to be next in line.
Until the euro zone problem is resolved, sovereign-debt investors are likely to favor the least-worst market—U.S. government debt.
That should help the market absorb heavy U.S. debt issuance this week. Along with the three-year offering Tuesday, there will be telling auctions of 10-year and 30-year debt on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
U.S. interest rates have also moved up in recent months; the 10-year yield is about 3.3% now, compared with 2.5% back in August.
Unlike Portugal or Greece, though, that partly reflects brighter growth prospects for 2011.
A rebound in demand for U.S. debt could start to rein in that upward move. As such, one metric to watch this week is the level of foreign participation in the Treasury auctions.
After hitting 43% for the 10-year in November, for example, it fell back to 21% last month, notes Priya Misra, head of U.S. rates research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Any flight to quality away from the euro zone should nose it back up.
U.S. policy makers should use this as a chance to create a long-term plan to tackle the nation's own debt load, while the pressure is off.
After all, a country should never let a crisis go to wastet—especially if it is someone else's.
Write to Kelly Evans at
kelly.evans@wsj.comhttp://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budget ... -budgeting 
Enviado: 12/1/2011 0:58
mas, por momentos vamos esquecer isso, quem sabe, ou invés de ficarem de fora, de forma passiva, possam chegar-se à frente?