And Then There is Bernanke http://t.co/oGvuj9EP5z
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Category Archive: Euro
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The Massendowngrade Effect
Well, that was the week that was, wasn’t it? It started with a cheerful, upbeat market response to both the impact of the ECB’s 3 year LTRO and the growing impression that Hungary was going to make some sort of “one-off” deal with the IMF, and ended near the depths of despair as S&P’s announced the downgrade [...]
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Playing Chicken and Rooster with Hungary
Tension surrounding the application of a series of so-called “unorthodox policies” by Hungary’s Fidesz government has certainly been rising in recent days. While Washington has been reasonably quiet as govenment emissary Tamas Fellegi meets with top IMF officials, Brussels has seen a veritable avalanche of official statements and policy initiatives. Despite constant rumours that an agreement [...]
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Italy Braces Itself for the Full Monti
The Italian government, Mario Monti informed the country’s parliament last Thursday, is now planning to concentrate its attentions on achieving economic growth. A timely decision this, since the statistics office announcement a day earlier that the country had once more fallen back into recession, while not being a surprise nonetheless does constitute a cause for concern. Not that Italy is [...]
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Is Finland Really a Closet Member of the Eurozone Periphery?
At a time when many eyes look hopefully towards the ECB for the kind of action which may prove to be the salvation of the much beleaguered Eurozone other, more critical, ones are casting themselves back over the recent track record of the institution itself, and asking what, if any, responsibility the Frankfurt-based bankers have for having [...]
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A Deep Seated Hostility Towards European Construction?
The British decision to veto the proposed new EU treaty is not surprisingly provoking an avalanche of commentary this weekend. Among journalists, at least, there seems to be a consensus that David Cameron committed some kind of major diplomatic blunder. Possibly this is so, but given the difficulties presented by having to take this agreement forward outside the [...]
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Last Days of Pompeii?
This week we got what seemed to be some good news in the ongoing Euro debt crisis. Bond spreads in many of the countries on Europe’s periphery tightened vis-their German equivalents. Unfortunately we also got some bad news to go with it (no silver lining these days without the accompanying black cloud it seems): the [...]
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How Would You React to the News Your Local Central Bank Just Went Bust?
Well, it’s been more time than I care to remember since I posted anything on this site. In the interim many things have happened, especially on the European sovereign debt front. I think I now have plenty of stuff lined up to waffle about, but maybe one simple way to ease myself back in to [...]
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Ireland: Crying All the Way to the Bank
Ireland’s Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is an optimistic man. He is also a persistent one. He is optimistic, since he clearly feels that his country’s 85 billion euro IMF/EU programme is going to work as planned, and he is persistent as he patently refuses to let sleeping dogs lie. The dogs in question here [...]
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High Noon Approaching for Greece?
The Greek tragedy in several acts would appear to be approaching a climactic moment. The warnings coming out of Berlin all week have been hard to ignore: “Greece either puts up or shoves off” would seem to be the blunt message being offered. Only yesterday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble informed members of the parliamentary [...]
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Life on PMI Cold Comfort Farm
As the heat wave which has been hanging over Southern Europe for the last couple of weeks steadily eases off there is little sign that any of the warm air which is dissipating is reaching the chilled motors of the European and Chinese economies. The results of this months Flash PMI readings are at best [...]
