The Early Story Of The Day Is Italian And Spanish Credit

Posted by on Mar 1, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Bonds and CDS for both countries are incredibly strong this morning. They are outliers versus almost anything else out there. Stocks are up a bit after a couple of rounds of overnight weakness. The strength in Spain and Italy is a bit surprising but so is the fact that the market isn’t completely in love […]

Feels Like It Could Be An Interesting Thursday

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Futures sold off after the close – which confounded the buy the dip crowd who were already surprised by the late day fade. Chinese Manufactured Manufacturing PMI came in at 51, vs 50.9 expected and after stories of constricting credit in China, is a modestly welcome surprise. Not strong enough to carry the day and […]

Gold And The Euro

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Almost scary but the Euro is finally reacting like it should to money printing and circularity (if not Ponzi). It is weak not because there will be defaults but because the “solution” does nothing but perpetuate the weak countries and zombie banks. Maybe it’s an aberration but the Euro is selling off because of the […]

(BN) *MONTI SAYS UNLIKELY THAT EURO REGION SPREADS WILL WIDEN AGAIN

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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…

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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?

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | No Comments

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 […]