First Act of Greek Default Proceedings Drawing to a Close

n the short term, one of the only remaining stumbling block in the form of the ongoing default proceedings in Greece seem to be no match for the ongoing positive animal spirit of the equity market. Only a week ago, we got news that talks in Greece had stalled, but most recently we have been reassured that talks are back on track

ECB/Fed Support for the European Banking System – 750 billion USD, and counting …

It is my view that the ECB is now the only thing between the economy and widespread bank failures, but I also concur that the consequence of this is a permanent outsourcing of the interbank market in Europe to the ECB’s balance sheet and, quite possibly, Fed’s USD swap lines

Caught Out by Reality in Europe

The rumour mill is grinding particularly fast at the moment. Germany and France seem to be working on the famous nuclear solution, Spain plays tough on outsiders, the IMF is rumoured to be preparing an aid package for Italy not to mention Hungary and Austria (just like Belgium) has entered the rating agencies’ cross hair.

So, what to believe

Adjustment Needed Now

By Claus Vistesen (see source of image at end of post) I have recently spent a few days in New York talking to clients as well as sneaking in a bit of marathon watching and a visit to the Guggenheim museum. Flying across the big pond also means that there is plenty of time to

Fed Outgunned, EMU Outflanked

The auxiliary objective of QE by the Fed is to weaken the USD. Herein lies the rub. Quite simply, with the recent announcement by the BOE of another round of QE worth £75 billion, with the ECB now willingly or unwillingly being forced into increased support of peripheral debt markets and with the BOJ also pledging more stimulus, the Fed is starting to look like the conservative central bank in the G4. Even if Merkel and Sarkozy, and rightly so, appear most concerned with putting pressure on Italy, the most significant issue remains Greece which is now in default a fact that was un-sanctimoniously confirmed by the leaked bailout document which has the Troika admitting that the medicine they were mandated to administer would only make the patient worse and not better

Is it Over Yet?

It was telling that, just as the ECRI and other notable research outfits decided to push the recession button on the US economy, the data flow became notably more positive. This could be a sign of the times, that the cycle is just too volatile for even capable analysts to call or it could simply be a blip in otherwise fundamental economic weakness that is here to stay for now. I have been working with and building economic models for a while and all I can say is that they are seldom 100% right and the margin of error is always there when analysts make calls. The key is your ability to make calls which are transparent and add value for decision makers when they are made

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Globally, coincident data is already slowing visibly across the globe with headline PMI readings and trade data coming in steadily lower. In that sense we are up against the wall again only so shortly after the shock of 2008/09 and this time, the ability of policy makers to respond is limited. However, I would be wary of calling this another 2008. One of the effects of experiencing a balance sheet recession with subsequent deleveraging is that trend growth falls and thus that the economy becomes liable to more frequent recessions

A Run On Eurozone Banks?

We should observe a blowout in Eurozone interbank spreads. And while we may still see this in the coming weeks, we have not seen anything resembling 2008 levels of panic

Crash!

In case you did not notice it, the much discussed “range” on the SP500 broke in spectacular fashion today as the short rollers bypassed the 1250 mark in the same style as the Germany panzer passed the Maginot line back in the early stages of

All back to square one

The S&P 500 completes its worst run in a long time returning to levels not last seen since March, when we thought we had to write off the entire Japanese economy as a nuclear wasteland. So, is it all back to square one for the already weak recovery

The hidden contingent sovereign liability of Danish mortgage bonds

The road map for how a Danish government might be forced to issue government bonds and swap them for unsalable covered bonds in order to allow its financial institutions to abide by the Basel rules is an almost sinister way in which the Danish sovereign may end up being on the hook for the total stock of debt in the society, just as we have seen elsewhere

On the fragile recovery and the likelihood of QE3

On balance it would then seem that the consensus remains weighed towards no QE3 either because it is not needed or because it does not work in the first place. I think it is very simple in the end though. If sideways movement gives way to a new downside in the market below key support levels it will be very easy for the Fed to argue for a new round of QE which I think they will deliver in due time.