The ECB surrendered its last vestige of prudence over the weekend and debased its holdings yet further. The ECB agreed to continue indefinitely to accept as collateral Greek bank debt/bonds. What this means is the ECB will loan Greek banks and anyone else’s banks brand new euros in return for almost worthless junk Greek bonds/paper …
From the very start of this crisis I have lamented the fact that there was never any debate at all about the nature of this crisis – was it a crisis of liquidity or solvency – nor about what actions should be taken (should the banks be bailed out, or should they be forced to …
Greece took on vast and un-payable debts, lied about them for years and years, all the while while going more and more insanely over streatched and finally imploded under a weight of bad debts and empty assurances so large, they could not pay them. Not good. I think Greece has a case to answer and …
Some massive things are happening to the banks at the moment. I think perhaps people are so pre-occupied with Greece and national debts (as they should be) that they are not seeing this other drama. Of course they are not unrelated. First, bank failures in the US. The fever is getting worse! In ’08 – …
Whoever ‘wins’ some things will be more or less assured. There will be ‘pressure from bond market’ about our debt. At least that is how it will be generally reported. In fact it will be something quite different. It will be pressure created on the bond market by investment banks and others speculating on the …
Not often I write about trading events as they happen. But I’ll make an exception today. S&P just downgraded Goldman Sachs shares from hold to sell with a negative outlook. The outlook is perhaps even more interesting than the actual downgrade. They revised their share estimate down from $190 to $140. Within seconds the markets …
A brief peek into euro land debt might give a picture of what to expect in the next few months. Everyone keeps talking about how Germany will/must/can bail out Greece – oh and France as well of course. I think before we feel the solution is at hand if only Germany would grasp it, we …
A couple of days ago in ‘Europe’s non-linear moment, I mentioned how Italy suddenly had a very nearly failed debt auction. Only just enough buyers to cover the debt. Failed auctions are bad news. At this time seriously bad news. Today Italy had another auction. It was, as one ‘strategist’ was quoted as saying, “… …
Miraculous or suspicious – Italian bond sales and market rallies. Read More »
China recently introduced new restrictions and prohibitions on banks lending for THIRD homes. So no property bubble there then. A week or so later , earlier this week the Australian government said it was tightening rules on foreign nationals buying properties in Australia. The Prime minister, who was the one who relaxed the rules a …
Everyone was taken by surprise by the Spanish downgrade. No one more so than the Spanish. But I believe the reasons for the downgrade do lend suport to what I was arguing in “Peering over the Cliff”. There I argued that the big indebted banks in every country would not survive by seeking profit in …
