Post Tagged with: "United States"
News Links: Downgrade watch begins as debt panel concedes defeat
Downgrade watch begins as debt panel concedes defeat – The Hill’s On The Money Credit rating agencies reiterated Monday that the U.S. is at risk of a downgrade following the announcement that the supercommittee has failed. Standard & Poor’s warned lawmakers not to try and roll back the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts set to
Dollar Softer Amid Consolidation
The US dollar is trading with a softer bias in what largely appears to be a consolidation. The euro held support near $1.34, sterling near $1.56 and Aussie near $0.9800. The news stream is light and corrective forces are seen in equities, which are mostly higher, and bond markets, which are mostly lower. Emerging market currencies are also generally firmer
National Solvency and the Special Case of the US Dollar
The US can run budget deficits that help to fuel current account deficits without worry about government or national insolvency precisely because the rest of the world wants Dollars. But surely that cannot be true of any other nation. Today, the US Dollar is the international reserve currency—making the US special. Isn’t the US special? Let us examine this argument
Chart of the day: Definitive guide to the European debt web
The BBC has a terrific chart tool that gives you a good feel for exactly how much the sovereign debtors in each of the European countries owes and to which other countries. The great thing about this chart is that it also shows you the debt flows outside of the European periphery i.e. for France and Germany, as well as for Japan, the US and Britain in both directions
Regulatory handicapping: the CFTC edition
And just two days after I reported on the starve-the-beast strategy that’s forcing the SEC to pursue Mickey-Mouse settlements with the big banks, we learn of plans to handicap the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission in a similar fashion
60 Minutes: Congressional Insider Trading
In case you missed it last night here is one that is sure to get your feathers up. It’s about time they Occupy Congress
Key data to focus on in the week ahead
Economic data has been of tertiary concern to the market recently, overwhelmed by the drama in Europe. Given that the drama may die down, with new governments in Greece and Italy, the economic data may become somewhat more important
Downgrading the US in China
This video is about the Chinese view of America’s budget battles. The US congress has until November 23rd to figure out on how to reduce its public debt. If it doesn’t, eventually mandatory budget cuts will go into place. As a result, Guan Jianzhong, the head of China’s only independent credit rating agency, has warned Dagong Credit might have to downgrade the US again
Chart of the Day: U.S. Payroll Employment By Industry, October 2011
A breakdown of Friday’s numbers with net loss and gain by key industry
On the CDS market, the Greek referendum and US banks’ selling insurance
There is much truth to the generalization that European banks took on direct exposure to European sovereigns through the bond market, while top banks took exposure through selling insurance, primarily CDS, on the sovereigns. The latest BIS data suggest that in H1 2011, US banks increased their CDS sales by almost $81 bln to $518 bln. Two thirds are tied Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Five US banks count for more than 90% of the CDS exposure
Quantitative Easing!!!
The BoJ announced today that it will expand its asset purchase programme by JPY5trn (USD66bn), with all the purchases being directed at JGB’s. Add that to the GBP75bn (USD120bn) by the BoE, CHF50bn (USD57bn) by the SNB and the EUR341bn (USD477bn) expansion of the ECB balance sheet since the end of June, and it collectively adds up to USD720bn. Clearly this explains the market rally from the low
BEA Adjusts Second Quarter GDP Growth Rate Upward
The public has been seeing their (per-capita) “slice of the pie” contract now for six months, and no amount of well spun “sluggish growth” can alter their view of a shrinking reality