Argentina Sets Debt Buyback

BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina's government announced a plan to buy back some of the country's debt, triggering a recovery in financial assets following last week's selloff.

While news of the intervention has propped up markets, economists remain broadly pessimistic about President Cristina Kirchner's populist economic policies, which have stoked inflation, eroded Argentina's fiscal position and alienated the agribusiness sector that is the motor of the economy. That pessimism was reflected in a move late Monday by the ratings agency Standard & Poor's Corp. to lower Argentina's foreign and local currency long-term credit ratings to B from B+.

A brief Economy ...