The meltup continues with the S&P500 set to open at new all time highs as futures rise 0.2% overnight, with European, Asian stocks higher, as job data pushed MSCI Asia Pacific Index towards highest close since Aug. 2015. Germany, U.K. economic data seen positive, with dollar, oil rising, and gold declining. Global equities advanced with commodities and emerging markets on speculation the U.S. economy is strong enough to sustain growth while only triggering a gradual increase in interest...
Read More »Private Sector Rescue for Italian Bank
In the FT, Rachel Sanderson and Martin Arnold report that the board of Monte dei Paschi is about to approve a recapitalization led by JPMorgan in order to avoid the alternative, a bailin according to European rules. Other news sources reported that the European Commission had made it clear that it rejected the proposal by Italy’s prime minister (supported by the ECB president) to change the rules and let the Italian government finance the recapitalization. EU finance ministers and Angela...
Read More »The World’s Central Banks Are Making A Big Mistake
Authored by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com, While everyone was talking about Brexit last month, the Bank for International Settlements released its 86th annual report. Based in Basel, Switzerland, the BIS functions as a master hub for all the world’s central banks. It settles transactions among central banks and other international organizations. It doesn’t serve private individuals, businesses, or national...
Read More »European Court of Justice Ruling Weighs on Italian Banks
Summary: ECJ uphold principle of bailing in junior creditors before the use of public funds. Italian banks shares snap a three-day advance. The EBA/ECB stress test results at the end of next week are the next big event. The European Court of Justice upheld the principle of making creditors bear the burden for investment in banks that sour before government funds can be used. Italian banks are particularly...
Read More »FX Daily, July 18: Coup in Turkey Repulsed, Risk-Appetites Return
Swiss Franc Continuing risk appetite is positive for the euro (and certainly sterling).At this levels we do not see much SNB intervention. Click to enlarge. FX Rates The US dollar and the yen are trading heavy, while risk assets, including emerging markets, and the Turkish lira, have jumped. Sterling is the strongest of the majors. It is up about 0.5% (~$1.6365), helped by the opportunity of GBP23.4 bln foreign...
Read More »Central Bank Wonderland is Complete and Now Open for Business — The Epocalypse Has Fully Begun
The following article by David Haggith was first published on the Great Recession Blog. Summer vacation is here, and the whole global family has arrived at Central-Bank Wonderland, the upside-down, inside-out world that banksters and their puppet politicians call “recovery.” Everyone is talking about it as wizened traders puzzle over how stocks and bonds soared, hand-in-hand, in face of the following list of economic...
Read More »New Wrinkle in European Bail-In Efforts
Summary: European Court of Justice could rule on July 19 that private investors do not have to be bailed in before public money can be used to recapitalize banks. Italy stands to gain the most, at least immediately, from such a judgment. Italian bank shares recovered after initial weakness. After the 2007-2008 bank recapitalization by governments, which means taxpayers’ money, Europe changed the rules. The...
Read More »S&P 500 To Open At All Time Highs After Japan Soars, Yen Plunges On JPY10 Trillion Stimulus
Last Thursday, when we reported that Ben Bernanke was to "secretly" meet with Kuroda and Abe this week (he is said to have already met with Japan's central bank head earlier today), we said that "something big was coming" out of Japan which had "helicopter money" on the agenda. And sure enough, after a dramatic victory for Abe in Japan's upper house elections which gave his party an even greater majority, Abe announced the first hints of helicopter money when Nikkei reported, and Abe...
Read More »Great Graphic: More Thoughts on Banks
Summary Italian banks have done worse that European banks. Italian banks outperformed Germany banks from end of H1 12 through H1 15. US banks and financials more broadly have outperformed Europe. Italian banks were struggling before the UK referendum. The result drove down interest rate, which keeps margins under pressure. The prospects of weaker growth as a result of Brexit means that demand for credit...
Read More »Return of the Repressed: Europe’s Unresolved Banking Crisis
Summary The IMF identified three banks that posted the most significant systemic risks. It has been overshadowed by new pressure on Italy’s banks, and. Three UK commercial real estate funds have been frozen to prevent redemptions. The conventional narrative has it backward. It worries about the threats to stability emanating from the periphery in Europe. Policymakers, investors, and economists still refer to...
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