Foreign News: Belgian banks, Spanish yields, Austrian prices

I have been reading a lot of Western European and Spanish-language press recently. These articles give me a good sense of what the local press is thinking about the euro crisis (and the developing situation in Argentina) in addition to what you see in the English-language press. But I have been pretty lazy about posting these links because I just leave them in the original language with no explanation. So let me experiment here with some foreign news links.

I have no idea where this is going but I figure it’s worth giving a go at trying to convey what the most newsworthy headlines are saying. tell me whether this exercise is useful. Here goes.

• España se ve forzada a pagar el precio más alto en 18 años por su deuda a corto plazo – El Pais (Spain): title says “Spain is forced to pay the highest rate in 18 years for its short-term debt”. Under the headline, it reads “The Treasury held the first auction since the elections” for almost 3 billion of 3 and 6 month money, but they paid over 5% interest, more than what Greece and Portugal, who have been rescued, are paying. That’s not sustainable. I see this as the most important article in the bunch.
• Euro-Bonds: Brüssels Allheilmittel ist für Berlin Teufelszeug – Die Welt (Germany): Basically, the President of EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso is going to talk up euro bonds on Wednesday and he has three alternatives worked out. Some people in Germany see a “transfer union through the back door”. So this may be the wonder pill in Brussels, but it is a devil’s bargain in Berlin, according to the headline.
• Griechische Schulden sind gestiegen – Der Standard (Austria): This article is pointing out that the Greek sovereign debt load had risen to 360.3 billion euros as of September, 220 billion to be repaid in the next six years. That puts sovereign debt to GDP at 165.3 percent.
• Österreich bis zu 70 Prozent teurer als Deutschland – Der Standard (Austria): 61 of 74 products tested in Austria were more expensive than in Germany, a consumer shopping comparison showed.
• Athen weitet Staats­garantien für Banken aus – Der Standard (Austria): The Greek government has extended bank guarantees since they have no market access. Essentially, the Greek banking system has been de facto nationalised in this environment.
• SEB: Läget allt dystrare – Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) – Title says “SEB: situation increasingly gloomy” and points to SEB’s economists forecasting Europe teetering on a "recession’s knife-edge". They predict growth in Sweden of 4.3 percent this year, 0.7 percent next year and 2.0 percent in 2013.
• La inflación en las provincias duplica a la del Indec – La Nacion (Argentina): “inflation in the provinces double the INDEC“. The Argentines do not trust the official inflation numbers. The item that was most affected during the year was education, with an increase of over 30 percent, while in second place was clothing (30.49 percent).
• Moody’s wijzigt outlook KBC-rating – De Standaard (Belgium): It’s not just Dexia that is a problem in Belgium. Now “Moody’s changes outlook on KBC rating” from stable to negative. KBC Bank’s long-term rating remains unchanged at A1. KBC Group’s long-term rating is A2.

That’s it for today.