Friday and Saturday were the days that U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner was in Poland sitting in on an ECOFIN meeting to try to persuade the financial policy makers of the EU to come to some type of resolution on a bailout of the PIIGS, an increase in the European Financial Stability Facility, and, hopefully, some program of support for the recapitalization of the European banking sector. Geithner pressed the ECB and European Governments to increase the 440 billion EURO EFSF rescue fund by utilizing leverage in its buying of sovereign debt. The tone of Geithner’s message was that the U.S. has woken up to the huge threat the EU debt crisis poses for the American economy, and, of course, President Obama’s election chances. Mr. Geithner warned that the EU crisis was a “CATASTROPHIC RISK TO FINANCIAL MARKETS.” He advised that the conflict between European governments and its central bank must end.
Posts Tagged ‘Greens’
Notes From Underground: Canada’s government is a fallen angel while Merkel’s CDU suffers a severe setback
March 27, 2011The weekend news was not economic but political as governments all over the globe suffered major setbacks. The Liberals secured a “NO CONFIDENCE” vote in the Canadian Parliament and bring down the Harper Government. I know that Michael Ignatieff will claim that he is perserving the democratic basis of Canada as the ruling party was brought down on an issue of CONTEMPT. The only thing that appears contemptuous is the ego of Ignatieff. He claims that the TORIES are out of touch and out of control. The election is called for May 2 and then the electors will have the final say on who is out of touch. This will be the fourth general election in seven years and let’s hope the citizens of Canada show their anger and elect an outright majority so Canada can get on governing itself.
Notes From Underground: DOES DOMESTIC POLITICS TRUMP ALLEGIANCE TO LARGER POLITICAL ENTITIES?
March 24, 2011It seems that overnight many traders were selling the EURO because of news that the Portuguese Government was to fall. As I have written about this before, it is certainly no surprise. The only surprise was its timing as it comes as the “RUBBER STAMP SUMMIT” is taking place today and tomorrow. Also, the credit rating agencies downgraded many Spanish Banks, making the EU SUMMIT that much more volatile. Throw in the French anger toward the Germans regarding its Libyan decision and the mood in Europe continues to darken.
Notes From Underground: Last Week Was The Year That Was
March 20, 2011This weekend brought mixed news about the lessening of RISK in Japan, and possibly Bahrain, while increasing the sense of risk in Libya and other parts of the Middle East. It appears that the threat of nuclear catastrophe has been diminished as some power has been restored to the nuclear plants under stress and the needed cooling is proceeding. The Japanese equity market will be a good source to monitor investor sentiment as weekend news publications were filled with articles about the values abound in the Nikkei and other Japan-based indexes. The YEN will be a much more difficult barometer because of the impact of YEAR END and its ability to cause disruptive volatility in currency markets.