Markets Shrug at Guatemala Runoff

Guatemala’s bonds have traded only marginally higher following Sunday’s election results which led to a runoff scheduled for November 4. The bonds do not appear to be affected as the market expected the contest to go to a runoff, says a trader whose shop trades the notes. Former general Otto Perez Molina will face center-left businessman Alvaro Colom, after Colom won the first round with 28%, to Perez Molina’s 24%. Neither candidate is expected to alter Guatemala’s current monetary policy. “We expect the outcome of the election to be largely neutral from a credit standpoint,” according to a Bear Stearns in a report.