Risk Australia Rankings 2009: The debt dividend

The Australian financial markets have experienced a year of two halves. First, there was a widespread sell-off of assets following the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. This resulted in a severe drop in Australian equities and a widening of credit spreads, along with a massive unwinding of the carry trade, where investors had borrowed in low interest currencies such as the yen and invested in high interest currencies such as the Australian dollar. The carry trade unwinding in