As doubts continue over the ability of Greece and Portugal to repay debt and raise new money in the bond markets, investors are getting jittery. Pension funds are big bond buyers; and three-quarters of them at a conference in Dublin this week said they expect a European sovereign default within three years.

Pension funds with over €1 trillion in assets between them met yesterday in Dublin, at the consultancy Mercer's annual investment conference. The forum was addressed by Gita Gopinath, a professor of economics at Harvard University.