Venezuelan Bonds Fall Following Store Takeover

Growth being choked by government control

Venezuelan bonds tumbled, sending yields to a 22-month high, after President Nicolas Maduro dispatched the military to take over a retail chain as part of his effort to quell inflation that's soared above 50 percent.

The country's benchmark bonds due 2027 fell 3.75 cents to 72.25 cents on the dollar as Maduro's seizure of electronics retailer Daka and his warnings to other businesses to cut prices to "fair" levels deepened investor concern that growth is being choked off by government controls. Yields on the bonds soared 0.76 percentage point to 13.79 percent, the highest since January 2012, at 12:38 p.m. in New York.

Maduro, who took over as president this year after his socialist mentor Hugo Chavez died of cancer, is stiffening government-imposed price controls that have contributed to food and goods shortages across the South American country. Maduro blamed the "parasitic bourgeoisie" and said he'd impose limits on profit margins throughout the economy after inflation surged to 54 percent in October, the fastest pace in 16 years.