Post Tagged with: "Europe"
Global Manufacturing Steadies as She Goes, or Does She?
The year got off on a much better foot than might have been expected, at least as far as global manufacturing is concerned. So the fall in global manufacturing has flattened out, even though the bounce back has more of a dead cat look about it than anything else. As usual in recent months the report was very much a mixed bag
Euro Dragged Lower on Greece Uncertainty
The dollar looks set to begin the week higher against the majors and EMs over lack of progress in Greece. European stocks are down 0.6%, with the EuroStoxx 600 trimming its 6-month high; EZ banks down 1.3%. German manufacturing orders higher in December; soft Australian retail sales support further RBA cuts
The Unlikely Bull Market
This is not the time to be fully invested but neither is it the time to be side lined. We are in a nervous market where great opportunities present themselves at regular intervals. We recommend holding 25-50% in cash or cash like instruments (depending on your risk profile) which can be deployed at short notice when those opportunities arise
Auerback: Austerity during recession is equivalent to medieval bloodletting
Here’s a good video performance by Marshall Auerback on BNN’s Business Day program. Marshall thinks the Greek default deal is actually a relatively good one. But sees a Portuguese default after the Greek default as a real possibility and envisions a scenario in which Portugal and Spain look to extract similar terms. Moreover, the quid pro quo for Greece is austerity – and that makes getting debt loads down harder when implemented during a downturn
Get Out of Jail Free, European Edition
I was thinking about that last post I wrote on the euro zone and regulatory forbearance. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So here’s a picture that captures my thinking pretty well
The European Sovereign Debt Crisis, the US Savings and Loan Crisis and Regulatory Forbearance
This is me thinking out loud about how regulatory forbearance in the S&L crisis mirrors today’s policy path
European Sovereign Supply and LTRO
The headline story in the Financial Times today is that “Banks set to double crisis loans from the ECB”. The report says that “several” large banks from the euro zone told the FT that they “could double or triple” their takes at the
Dollar Heading Lower after Constructive Outcome of EU Summit
Dollar is heading lower after the EU summit saw 25 of the 27 nations endorse the new fiscal compact. EuroStoxx 600 is nearly 1% higher as a result, banks up nearly 1.3%; MSCI Asia Pacific index up 0.7%. Japanese data showed a surge in December production; Germany’s Dec. job boost offset by retail sales
Banking Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This
the banks now browbeat governments – not by having ready cash but by threatening to go bust and drag the economy down with them if they are not given control of public tax policy, spending and planning. The process has gone furthest in the United States. Joseph Stiglitz characterizes the Obama administration’s vast transfer of money and pubic debt to the banks as a “privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a ‘partnership’ in which one partner robs the other.” Prof. Bill Black describes banks as becoming criminogenic and innovating “control fraud.” High finance has corrupted regulatory agencies, falsified account-keeping by “mark to model” trickery, and financed the campaigns of its supporters to disable public oversight. The effect is to leave banks in control of how the economy’s allocates its credit and resources
Greek private sector involvement: So what?
The market has been focused on the negotiations over the private sector involvement in reducing Greece’s debt burden. Yet, the PSI is so yesterday. There are many moving parts and the PSI, which has dominated the market’s attention, is being superseded by other developments, even if an agreement is still not in hand
On how Portugal is the next Greece
Portugal appears to be headed down that same road. While we have warned in the past of risks that Portugal would need a second aid package, it is only since S&P joined the other major rating agencies on January 13 that more market participants have come over to this view
Stephen Roach on US, the Fed, China, and Europe
Stephen Roach says the Fed is going all in in support of QE and I agree. But what else are they going to do? Look at Europe, for example. The ECB there has a hydra-headed problem with sovereigns and banks on the brink of insolvency and they too have expanded the balance sheet like mad. China faces many of the same challenges with excess credit growth and fragile financial firms in the face of asset price deflation