PRESS RELEASE

---

Flood of Corporate Defaults in U.S. and Europe

April 17, 2016 (EIRNS)—The London Financial Times reported in a front-page story this morning that corporate defaults worldwide this year are already at $50 billion. The paper reported that five significant new defaults occurred in the week just ended, including those of two more U.S. shale oil/gas producers.

The only comparable or higher rate in the 21st Century developed in 2009, a year of general economic collapse and mass unemployment throughout the trans-Atlantic region after the bank panic of late 2008. There were $60 billion defaults in the first four months of that year.

The corporate defaults are overwhelmingly in the trans-Atlantic countries, and predominantly related to commodity price collapses.