Cost of insuring against US default climbs on debt ceiling fears

The price of insuring against a US government default rose to a fresh high this week as traders began pricing in their concerns that the world’s biggest economy might not meet its financial obligations.

One-year US credit default swaps — derivatives that act like insurance and pay out if a company, or country, reneges on its borrowings in the next 12 months — are trading at 106 basis points, Bloomberg data shows.