In Flanders Fields by Dr. John McCrae on Remembrance Day
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In […]
(BN) Invisible Run on Banks Becomes Conversation With 7% Italy Yields
A good article. The Italian sovereign crisis is far from over, but look for people to shift back their focus on the banks. It won’t just be speculators, it will be investors that are afraid that having relied on political help to stay afloat (directly and via support for sovereign debt) you don’t know what […]
Merkozy’s Frankenstein
Whatever the European experiment once was, it has morphed almost beyond recognition. The policy responses have made the problem worse, not better, and it is becoming more complex. The contagion is spreading because every policy is linking the countries more closely, but not in a controlled and thoughtful way but in a haphazard poorly thought […]
(BN) Euro-Rescue Fund To Issue New Short-Term Bonds In December
I am really not sure how this is good news. Is there any doubt that the EFSF could issue short-dated paper at low yields? No. What does this do? Keeps cost of funds down, but not sure how you leverage this – you can’t. Second loss risk couldn’t be based on short-dated first loss risk. […]
We Are All Fx Traders Today
The correlation between SPX and EUR has been high, but it seems to have hit unprecedented levels today. All you need to know is where EUR is and you can pretty much nail where treasuries, SPX, and an assorted number of other assets are. The connection and how program driven the market has become is […]
(BN) Finland Must Clarify Bailouts to Lawmakers, Audit Committee Says
I think this is an interesting story. Finland was the first to demand “collateral” for continuing to play the bailout game. It is debatable whether they are getting good collateral or not, but it looks like they are the first government to really focus on what all the guarantees and other commitments may cost them. […]
(BN) European Stocks Drop as ECB’s Knot Says Can’t Do ‘Much More’
He admits rate cuts do very little in this situation. Admits that intervention has limited and short term impact. Will he be allowed to speak again? So truthful yet contradictory to what everyone wants to believe. I doubt it is a co-incidence that he is Dutch. Another story floating around about transitioning from EFSF to […]
To Ecb Or Not To Ecb That Is The Only Question
Europe started the day poorly, following up on the weak close and its own poor economic data. Then the ECB got involved and started buying Spanish and Italian debt aggressively. Rumors is that the ECB will have unlimited buying power for Italian debt once the austerity bill is passed. The current buying spree is completely […]
Tranched EFSF – Or TARP Lite
The EU is getting closer to having two actual alternatives for EFSF on the table. Partial Protection Certificate (PPC) The PPC approach is included as one of the two proposals. They came up with a name so that is progress. It looks like payout would be linked to events that are very similar to CDS […]
(CRL) EFSF Terms of Reference on Maximizing Capacity: EFSF
Seriously, they should just print. Print, accept that nothing other than printing money will avoid a lot of defaults, print, accepting that the consequences are unknown, but this seems “unlikely” to work at best. I think the latest iteration is a “TALF” except that on a single asset, all you are doing is allocating the […]