By Daniel Bases, February 9, 2010
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barclays Capital told its research analysts in a memo this week not to use the relatively new but increasingly common "PIIGS" acronym to describe five European nations with strained fiscal conditions, a source at the bank told Reuters on Friday.
The five are Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
"Basically the memo ... didn't say why although it seems obvious. Essentially, the PIIGS acronym should not be used in any research notes and that instead, just spell out the country name and leave it at that," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity as it is an internal matter.
Mark Lane, a spokesman for Barclays Capital (BARC.L), declined to comment.
Public finances in those five euro zone countries have been strained by the fallout from the global financial crisis and they are now being blamed for the current market turmoil that has shunted global share prices sharply lower as investors worry about potential sovereign debt defaults.
The cost of insuring Greek, Portuguese and Spanish government debt against default rose to record highs on Friday, according to monitor CMA DataVision.
(Additional reporting by Albert Yoon; Editing by James Dalgleish)
