As if the furore in the US over expensing stock options and an investigation into the insurance industry weren’t enough, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a probe last week into how companies account for pension and healthcare liabilities.
The announcement, which included a specific targeting of six US companies, managed to widen the spreads of Ford and GM by 30bp last week and stall European debt issues by Arcelor and Unibail.
The two US car manufacturers were on an SEC list of companies that also included Northwest Airlines and Delphi.
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