Argentina has greeted an order from a US appeals court for more information on its offer to holdout creditors as a glimmer of hope in its fight not to pay “vulture funds” without a steep writedown on their debt, the Financial Times reported. “We are not trying to convince the vultures to participate, we are trying to convince the judges, and that’s why it’s a good sign that the court has asked Argentina what the 2010 offer means,” Hernán Lorenzino, the economy minister, told the newspaper Página 12.

Worries that Argentina is inching closer to default sent the cost of insuring the country's government bonds to their highest level since November and pushed shares in its benchmark index lower, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move followed remarks made by Argentina's lawyer in a U.S. appeals court hearing in New York on Wednesday, suggesting the government would choose to default if ordered to pay creditors who hadn't agreed to new terms for their debt resulting from the country's 2001 default.

Argentina’s messy legal battle with hedge funds over its 2001 sovereign default has heightened calls to resurrect plans for a bankruptcy regime for countries, under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Many senior lawyers, fund managers and former policy makers say recent court rulings against Argentina highlight the weaknesses of the current approach to government debt workouts, and argue that it is time to revisit the “sovereign debt restructuring mechanism” proposed by the IMF in 2002.

Investors who hold Argentina's restructured debt are seeking to have New York's highest court consider whether a bond provision requires the country to equally treat holders of defaulted and new bonds, Bloomberg News reported today. The bondholder group, which includes Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and AllianceBernstein LP, said in a court filing that interpretation by the state Court of Appeals in Albany is needed to determine whether Argentina must make payments on defaulted bonds when it pays holders of restructured debt, as a federal court judge ordered it to do.

A US appeals court has rejected a request from defaulted creditors led by Elliott Associates, a US fund, to require Argentina to post security of at least $250m by Monday to demonstrate its willingness to pay any judgment in their favour, the Financial Times reported. The ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals means there will be no change to a schedule it laid down last week for the thorny case, which has pit the government against funds it decries as “vultures” and sparked fears of a new Argentine default.

Investors suing over Argentina's 2002 debt default have asked a U.S. court to order the country to post a security deposit of at least $250 million by December 10, while an appeal of a lower court's order is pending, The Chicago Tribune reported on a Reuters story. In an emergency motion filed late on Friday, the "holdout" creditors urged the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to modify its ruling from Wednesday that halted an order for Argentina to deposit $1.33 billion into an escrow account by December 15 on the investors' behalf.

Holders of Argentina’s restructured bonds asked for an emergency stay to block orders by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa that prevent the country from paying interest on the debt next month without paying $1.3 billion to owners of defaulted notes, Bloomberg reported.

Yesterday, Argentina filed for a re-hearing of its arguments against hedge fund manager Paul Singer and other investors in its sovereign debt that neglected to restructure their debt in 2005 and 2010 (exchange bondholders), Business Insider reported. Argentina is making two arguments for why their case should be heard (before a panel of judges) again.

An unexpected New York court decision has raised the spectre of an Argentine government default, causing a rise in the cost of insuring against a payment failure and rattling the country’s bond market, the Financial Times reported. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York late last week ruled that Argentina was legally barred from prioritising payments to bondholders that participated in debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010.

Spanish oil heavyweight Repsol YPF SA has lost nearly one-fifth of its valuation after Argentina's move to seize control of YPF SA sliced off a huge chunk of the company's production and earnings. Yet, two weeks after the Argentine bombshell, some investors and analysts are starting to devise a potential upside scenario for the battered Spanish company, The Wall Street Journal reported.