<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Spain’s Borrowing Costs Skyrocket The Spanish Treasury paid sharply higher yields to sell short-term Treasury bills Tuesday as Spanish government debt remained under pressure, underscoring concerns that more financially-weakened euro-zone governments may soon be priced out of the… Continue reading Euro Yields
Der Spiegel – Germany’s Finances Not as Sound as Believed When it comes to fiscal stability, frugality and responsible economic management, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble have only one role model: themselves. The chancellor praises herself and her team for having “a clear compass for reducing debt,” and insists: “Getting our… Continue reading Germany’s Safe Haven Status In Doubt
The Financial Times – US funds cut exposure to European banks The largest US money market funds cut their exposure to European banks to another record low last month, intensifying concerns over a wholesale funding run on the region’s banks and the potential for an ensuing credit crunch. The 10 biggest funds trimmed their short-term… Continue reading Exposure To European Banks
MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – S&P: Super Failure Won’t Affect US Credit Rating Here’s one less thing to worry about: S&P just said the Super Failure of Super Congress won’t affect the US credit rating. Turns out, funny enough, S&P didn’t expect much out of the Clown College that is US Congress, so its rating stays… Continue reading The Rating Agencies
The Financial Times – Critics of credit default swaps have got it wrong There has been so much criticism of credit default swaps (CDS) of late that you would think no one was using them any longer. Yet today we see net open positions of $2,900bn, up from $2,400bn at this time last year. This… Continue reading Critiquing The CDS Market
The Wall Street Journal – Greenberg Sues U.S. Over AIG Rescue Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, the longtime former chief executive of American International Group Inc., launched a legal challenge to the government’s 2008 takeover of AIG, alleging the move was unconstitutional. Mr. Greenberg’s lawyers on Monday sued the U.S. and the Federal Reserve Bank of… Continue reading Hank Greenberg Sues The U.S. Treasury & Federal Reserve
The Wall Street Journal – Missing MF Global Funds Could Top $1.2 Billion The amount of money missing from customer accounts at MF Global Holdings Ltd.’s brokerage unit could total over $1.2 billion, more than double the previous estimate. The surprise revelation by the trustee overseeing the unwinding of the securities firm formerly run by… Continue reading The Missing MF Global Money Grows By The Day
None Today
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – EU Pushes Scenarios for Euro Bond As Rescue-Fund Expansion Falters, Idea Is Floated; but Germany Opposes As the euro zone’s debt crisis threatens to draw in more victims and a plan agreed to expand the currency’s bailout fund looks set to disappoint, the European… Continue reading Are Eurobonds A Good Idea?
The Wall Street Journal – European Bank Chief Pushes Back Draghi Bemoans Euro-Zone Delays in Implementing Hard Measures, Resists Large-Scale Bond Buys The European Central Bank and Germany firmly rejected calls from euro-zone politicians to bail out Italy and other struggling euro members by intervening massively in bond markets, insisting that the central bank’s credibility… Continue reading The ECB And Germany Say No To Money Printing
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – French bond sell-off shows crisis spreading France’s corporate bond market has been hit by a sharp sell-off, causing yields to spike and providing proof that the eurozone’s debt crisis is now permeating even the region’s supposedly safer corners. Highly rated company bonds had long proved… Continue reading France
<Click on chart for larger image> The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Spain – the fifth victim to fall in Europe’s arc of depression Let us all extend our sympathies to the Spanish people. They face the greatest national emergency since the Civil War yet their vote for drastic change is palpably useless, even if… Continue reading Spain Votes