On Friday, after it emerged that as part of Marine Le Pen’s strategic vision for France, should she win, is a return to the French franc as well as redenomination of some €1.7 billion in French (non-international law) bonds, both rating agencies and economists sounded the alarm, warning it would “amount to the largest sovereign default on record, nearly 10 times larger than the €200bn Greek debt restructuring in 2012,...
Read More »Trumpflation Takes A Breather As Global Stocks Rise, Oil Jumps On Renewed OPEC “Deal Optimism”
With the Trumpflation euphoria easing back slightly overnight, leading to a modest paring in the USD index and US Treasury yields, Asian and European stocks rose, while US equity futures rebounded to just shy of new all time highs, as crude jumped on renewed optimism that OPEC will agree to cut output; Italian equities underperformed ahead of the Italian referendum; metals rebounded from last week’s losses as yields dropped and the dollar halted its longest winning streak versus the euro....
Read More »France: The Aftermath
The November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris claimed 129 lives and are changing the political climate in France and Europe. One thing they haven’t done, however, is roil financial markets. Both the Stoxx 50, Europe’s blue-chip index, and France’s benchmark CAC 40 index were up 2.1 percent in the first three days of trading after the attacks. Certain sectors – airlines, hotels, luxury goods, and financial stocks – took a hit on the Monday after the attacks. Even within these sectors,...
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