Ireland weighs risks of 'burning the bondholders'

When Ireland’s weakest banks were found to be behind a surprise spike in emergency borrowing from the European Central Bank last week, the market reaction was perhaps surprising: it was generally relief. Speculation about who might have had to turn to the ECB’s overnight loans, offered at a penalty interest rate, had rippled through the market at the end of last week – a mistaken, “fat finger” trade? Unknown strains in the system? But because it turned out to be Anglo Irish Bank and

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