PIIGS cant fly because its not halal !

‘At Barclay’s Capital, PiiGS No Longer Fly.’ Unfortunately, another dismal soul at Bloomberg must have taken offense and updated the online headline in the piece it to this [emphasis added]:

Swine Acronym Ordered Out of Barclay’s Reports (Bloomberg, Feb. 5, 2010, Alexis Xydias, Rita Nazareth and Lynn Thomasson)

The securities unit of London-based Barclays Plc told analysts yesterday not to use the acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain in notes to clients, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. The mandate from Valerie Monchi was sent to research staff.

The Piigs nickname has grown increasingly popular in the last month as investors dumped assets in the euro zone’s smaller economies on concern the countries will struggle to control budget deficits…

…Usage of Piigs grew following the rise of the BRICs acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, coined by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Global Economist Jim O’Neill to describe four of the world’s biggest emerging markets.

And, pigs are really pretty nice creatures according to this information from the Humane Society that was included in the Bloomberg piece:

…The Web site of the Humane Society of the United States describes pigs as “highly intelligent, curious animals who engage in complex tasks and form elaborate social groups.”…