(BN) *MONTI SAYS UNLIKELY THAT EURO REGION SPREADS WILL WIDEN AGAIN
I guess it’s better than when Greece kept talking about how speculators would lose their shirts but seems a bit premature if not arrogant? Progress has been made but it seems like they accomplished a lot more when scared than when full of themselves. In the meantime Ben seems like he might have to let […]
(BN) ECB Halts Bond-Buying Pause With Purchases of Portuguese Notes
Non central bank bond holders are being “primed” or subordinated, however you want to look at it. No wonder Portuguese bonds are being taken to the woodshed +——————————————————————————+ ECB Halts Bond-Buying Pause With Purchases of Portuguese Notes 2012-02-29 15:56:54.65 GMT By Emma Charlton Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) — The European Central Bank […]
A Strange Graph – In More Ways Than One
First, the graph is strange because I had a lot of trouble formatting it. My apologies. But there is a reason I have sent it. The “dotted” lines represent the Italian government curves back in November. The “solid” lines are the shape of the curve today. The “orange” lines are the bond yields in bps, […]
Dear Santa, I Know Christmas Is A Long Way Off, But…
Dear Santa, I know Christmas is a long way off, but I was hoping that you could get me a European Bank License and another round of LTRO. I promise to be a good boy, and borrow as much money as the ECB will possibly give me, with minimal equity, and buy as much 3 year […]
Looking Like LTRO Is A “Sell The News” Type Of Event?
It is a bit early to tell, and maybe the market will digest it and rally, but already felt like this has largely been priced in. Unlike the first LTRO, where there was some confusion about what it is supposed to do, everyone knows this time, so it is not a matter of understanding the […]
(BN) EIB Said to Get Similar Exemptions From Greece Writedowns to ECB
This about sums it up. The EIB, whose debt somehow doesn’t count against any of the countries that support it, also doesn’t take losses on debt it buys. And why exactly does the EIB own Greek government bonds? +——————————————————————————+ EIB Said to Get Similar Exemptions From Greece Writedowns to ECB 2012-02-29 00:00:35.0 GMT […]
(BFW) ECB Lends Banks EU529.5 Bln for 3 Years; Estimate EU470 Bln
Somewhat higher than average expectations, with 800 banks taking the free money. I’m not sure what it does for the market. There should be absolutely no funding pressure on banks in Europe this year. All that and a bit more should be taken care of. Given some hype that a really big number was good […]
(BFW) ISDA Determinations Committee Accepts Greece Question
So it looks like they will try to determine if the events so far have been a Credit Event. I personally don’t think it is there. Too much relies more on “language” subordination and offering the PSI. It has a shot of winning, but I suspect it won’t be called a Credit Event at this […]
Gold And LTRO
Late last summer and early fall, I remember that gold couldn’t lose. No matter what happened in Europe, gold would do well. Either European QE was coming and gold would go up, or Europe would fall apart and gold would go up. It didn’t. More and more, I’m hearing similar stories about LTRO specifically, and the market in general. […]
So Greece “Defaults” And Europe Moves On…
So far there are no dramatic consequences of the Greek default. The ECB did say they couldn’t accept it as collateral, but national central banks (including Greece’s somehow solvent NCB) can, so no real change. We will likely get a Credit Event prior to March 20th once CAC’s are used to get the deal fully […]
