Chamath Palihapitiya's Nervous 'Gulp' A Sign Of Things To Come? Oracle's Credit Default Swaps Surge Past COVID-19 Levels

Investor Chamath Palihapitiya highlighted Oracle Corp.’s (NYSE:ORCL) surging credit default swaps, hinting at growing unease in credit markets over the debt-fueled AI infrastructure push.

CDS Rates Surge Past COVID-19 Levels

On Tuesday, in a post on X, Palihapitiya shared a chart showing Oracle’s CDS had surged to 160 basis points, which reflects the rising annual cost of insuring the company’s debt against default.

Palihapitiya just said “gulp” in his post, while pointing out that the company’s CDS spreads have seen similar spikes ahead of major crises. Such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, before which spreads touched 120 basis points, which it has now surpassed.

This marks the company’s second-highest reading in nearly two decades, trailing only the spike seen ahead of the 2008-09 financial ...