From Bloomie:
Western Australia’s bonds are the nation’s worst-performing regional debt this year as an iron-ore rout clouds the finances of a borrower that’s already lost its top credit score at Standard & Poor’s.
Securities sold by Australia’s biggest state by area have returned 5.1 percent since Dec. 31, compared with 6.3 percent for an index of the nation’s provincial notes, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The price of iron ore, the state’s largest export, has slumped 30 percent to $93.40 a metric ton over the same period and entered a bear market, forcing miners in the remote Pilbara region to cut spending and jobs.