Argentina’s country risk, the extra yield investors demand on its bonds, closed October at 790 points on Friday, JP Morgan’s index showed, a 2026 high after a 183-point rise in the month.
The index jumped 6.6% on Friday from 741 on Thursday as a global selloff led by chipmakers hit emerging-market bonds. Intel shares fell as much as 30% as results from Amazon and Alphabet renewed doubts about big technology companies’ spending on artificial intelligence, and Argentine dollar bonds fell with them.
The index measures the yield gap over US Treasuries in basis points, hundredths of a percentage point. A higher spread raises the cost of borrowing for the Treasury and for Argentine companies. From 607 on September 30, it rose 30% in October, JP Morgan’s data show. It passed 700 on October 22 for the first time since October 2025.
The previous 2026 high, 765, came on October 26, when Brazil’s election result sent Argentine stocks and bonds sliding. The measure then eased before Friday’s jump.
The government calls the rise an external shock, and says Argentine bonds were punished more than those of comparable countries because of the country’s history of defaults. Analysts also point to weak economic activity data and to doubts about the program ahead of the 2027 presidential election. GMA Capital, a brokerage, said investors still question the sustainability of the economic program despite progress on the external front.