Daily

The GDP numbers for the US came out again and they were weaker than anticipated, coming in at 2.2% for real GDP growth instead of the 2.5% expected. Nominal GDP growth was only 3.7%. That is not bullish for shares.

As I write this the lower house of Dutch Parliament is debating what and where to cut in order to get their budget under the 3% hurdle as quickly as possible.

Last January I called the contrast between the US and the UK "the best real-time economic experiment we can have on what does and doesn’t happen as a result of government spending." My point was that the two economies have had…

The big US data today was in the housing markets as we got both the Case-Shiller and the housing starts numbers. Here's my take on the news.

I have been saying that I expect German data to disappoint and come in on the softer side. Why? This post explains.

Today's big news was the bond auction in Spain. Spain's auction went off without a hitch but at a cost. Spain sold 2.5 bln euros ($3.3 billion USD). The Spanish Treasury sold a 1.1 bln euro bond maturing 31 Oct 2014 (average yield: 3.463%,…

Most of the focus these days is on Spain and the periphery - and for good reason. Spain's bond yields are putting it into a potential debt death spiral from which the only escapes are a bailout or default. Moreover, the whole of the…

Spain is involved in two stories today that point to the difficulties that surround sovereign governments that are overindebted in foreign currency. There are a ton of Spanish-language links for that reason.

I am increasingly worried about what is happening in Spain. It seems that the crisis there is hitting a flashpoint with no obvious means of turning things around. Over the past few days, I have been reading and listening to Spanish media…

Spain has really hit the wall now. Given what we know of how the sovereign debt crisis has proceeded. The likelihood that Spain can escape from the rise in yields without ECB or EU-wide intervention is slim.