Bond Traders Bet Next Ecuador President Can Stave Off Default
- Voters head to polls Sunday in first round of nationwide vote
- Violence has raised likelihood of a market-friendly outcome
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As Ecuadorians prepare to vote for a president Sunday amid its most violent election cycle in memory, investors are betting an unexpected rally in the country’s battered bonds isn’t finished.
The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and a shocking rise in crime has made security and stability a focus of the election. That’s raised the chances a conservative, market-friendly candidate will at least make it to a second round in October, and reduces the odds of an outright win by a leftist ally of former President Rafael Correa.