Jay Newman Says Russia Could Lead Sovereign Debt Crisis (1)

A potential Russian default brought on by sanctions could be a preview to a rates-driven, global sovereign debt crisis, said Jay Newman, the hedge fund veteran who navigated one of the most-contentious sovereign default cases.

“As rates go up and the tide goes out, we will see who will be swimming naked,” Newman told Bloomberg TV’s Markets America on Thursday. “There are lots of countries that will have difficulty making their payments if they are foreclosed from capital markets.”

On his “long list of countries that are on the edge” are Pakistan, Egypt, Ghana, Zambia, Lebanon, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, ...