A Couple Points On The Economic Data…
As I mentioned earlier this week (pointed out by Joe Brusuelas), the housing starts were going to be good. The weather was so good, that more builders were able to start projects. There is a big seasonal adjustment factor at work. Rather than taking this as a sign of strength, you are better off assuming […]
From Knight – Some Debt At Some Banks May Become Junk
The people at Knight put together a comprehensive list of potential ratings for banks in Europe after Moody’s came out with their outlooks. I agree that banks getting shifted to non-investment grade is a big deal. We saw the impact for Portugal once it got taken out of the indices, and I think for banks […]
A Pound Of Flesh. An AAPL A Day. Cheap HYG Vol.
Europe has moved into the “pound of flesh” stage of negotiations. Everyone just wants to make their point and the probability of a deal is dropping by the day. Europe is running out of time, and is just clueless. Yesterday has to confirm that even for the most optimistic person out there. They decided they […]
China Buys Greece
Everyone just waiting for that rumor that will fix everything. The reality is Greece is heading for hard default and too many people are saying it won’t happen that it cannot be priced in. We haven’t had a good ugly overnight session in awhile. Maybe tonight is the night? European credit closed very weak. The […]
Black Swans, White Crows, And Doves
We can briefly switch our attention from Greece and Apple and see just how dovish the Fed is. I think pretty dovish but minutes that don’t sound like their we’re table pounding demand for immediate QE may disappoint the market. The amount of money that has been seen chasing yield since the announcement has been […]
Nigel Farage – Worth Watching
I’m not sure that he has a plan, but at least on polician has the courage to point out what is happening to democracy in Greece and the Greek people http://www.zerohedge.com/news/farage-greek-chaos-you-aint-seen-nothing-yet
March 20th – Bridge Loan? What’s The Cost?
I think that the EU is making this stuff up as they go along. A report talks about a “bridge loan” for the March bond payments. Scary, but that would add about 8 billion to the cost of the bailout. These bonds were expected to be part of the PSI, so 50% of the principal […]
(ANA) Greek gov’t speeds up Piraeus port privatization procedures
If Greece is setting up for some post default money, selling this to China would be a pretty good option. +——————————————————————————+ Greek gov’t speeds up Piraeus port privatization procedures 2012-02-15 14:33:09.613 GMT Greek gov’t speeds up Piraeus port privatization procedures Feb. 15 (ANA-MPA) — The Greek state on Wednesday transferred 5,775,000 […]
March 20th Bonds And The Latest Greek Headlines
There is now talk about delaying implementation of the bailout until after the April elections. That at least makes some sense. See if the people support the austerity with an election. It also makes sense because it deflects the market’s attention for a little while so that everyone can prepare for an “orderly” default. As […]
(BFW) Euro Zone Ponders Delay of Second Greek Programme, Reuters Says
This story makes no sense. What about the March bonds? +——————————————————————————+ Euro Zone Ponders Delay of Second Greek Programme, Reuters Says 2012-02-15 13:20:12.693 GMT By Gaurav Panchal Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Package could be put off until after Greek elections, Reuters says; cites several EU sources said on Wednesday. * […]