2012

A friend commented to me when he saw the story that Iceland had been upgraded by Fitch, the ratings agency, that this "sure makes default look palatable". Obviously, Iceland is not out of the woods yet but their relative success says there…

On Tuesday night, I spoke to Amanda Lang and Kevin O'Leary about Greece. The question was whether they were going to default and leave the euro zone. My response is that the euro zone is not ready politically for a default and so I think…

Part of the rise of Italy under Monti is a function of how far it had slipped under Berlusconi. Another aspect of Italy's improvement is a function of the Monti's fellow countryman Draghi, who at the helm of the ECB has reversed Trichet's…

My takeaway here is that people are desperate and they are willing to support any party that has a solution to their economic plight, irrespective of whether that party is considered extreme.

The US dollar continues to pare its recent gains as optimism builds that a confirmation of a Greek bailout deal is closer. The yen is the weakest G10 currency this week, following the BOJ's unexpected JPY10 trillion extension of its…

Financial news links for 17 Feb 2012

The financial situation in Greece is deteriorating at a remarkable clip.

The US dollar continues to rally as uncertainty over the fate of Greece boosts demand for safety as the Greek tragedy is spinning into a farce.

On the issue of the bifurcation of society and the widening income gap in the U.S., and the strains appearing from the factory system in China that have recently been highlighted, there is useful commentary that comes from a surprising…

The country's economy will now shrink because European policy makers fail to understand the dynamics of debt deflation.