A trillion in external bets made on Italy

ONE of the things most often said about Italy’s public debt is that it does not matter because most of it is held by Italians. The second part of that statement is true. But since the overall amount is so vast, even the total amount held outside of Italy—€790 billion ($1.1 trillion) at last count, in March—dwarfs the total for foreign-held bonds issued by countries like Ireland, Portugal, Greece and even Spain. Economist

That a lot of betting on one of the PIGS.