First, the equity markets continued this week’s rally as better data in the U.S. (housing) following upon the Monday retail sales report provided more fuel for the bulls and is causing great angst for portfolio managers that are underinvested and badly underperforming their benchmarks. These investment advisers must go to sleep and pray for the U.S. to bomb Iran so that they will have some type of opportunity to buy into the global equity rally. It’s tough to chase this one. As I wrote on Sunday, the IMF “volte face” on the impact of austerity budgets was a game changer as it will mean that austerity inspired programs, like the U.S. fiscal cliff, will force policymakers to be cautious in pushing for too much austerity in times of a balance sheet recession. The pushback from Spain, Italy and others is allowing the forces for unrestrained growth to gain ascendancy over the voices of austerity led by the Bundesbank.
Posts Tagged ‘euro bonds’
Notes From Underground: Hollande Gets Saucy With the Germans
October 17, 2012Notes From Underground: Europe Is Back to Center Stage … It’s the Crisis That Never Sleeps
April 11, 2012This week has again seen the resurrection of the European debt crisis as the world pays close attention to BOND prices in EURO BONDS. Yesterday saw the German Schatz fall to an all-time-low of 9 BASIS POINTS. Today as some calm was restored to the Spanish and Italian debt markets, the yield on the German 2-YEAR increased to 14 BASIS POINTS. Prompting the rally in the PERIPHERAL DEBT PRICES was a comment by ECB Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure.