currencies

The yen and the Swiss franc were seen as safe haven currencies during the tumultuous crisis in Europe. The Swiss National Bank has effectively and apparently cheaply took the franc out of the game. This may have increased some speculative…

Overnight price action marked by choppy trading conditions; Most EM stocks and currencies lower, safe havens advance. North American session likely to focus on US data; Inflation expected to remain flat, industrial production seen higher.…

When I was running through Italian default scenarios earlier in the day, I asked “Could Italy unilaterally exit the euro zone and redominate euro debts at par into a new Lira currency to forestall the default? Perhaps. That is something to…

The most important debate of our lifetimes is now ongoing. The question: Should the ECB “write the check’ for the euro area national governments? In thinking about the answer to this all-important question, I prefer to shift the focus by…

when government deficit spends, some of the claims on government will end up in the hands of foreigners. Does this matter?

We are baffled by the analysis of the analyst community, some, of which, are not so analytical. They say that Europe’s fundamental problem is that it has a central bank which is unwilling to monetize sizeable debt maturities which…

Risk aversion continues to weigh heavily on equity markets and EZ sovereigns; Dollar mostly firmer across the board. EZ policy developments remain in spotlight with growth expected to slow; UK inflation moderates. In the North American…

Economic data has been of tertiary concern to the market recently, overwhelmed by the drama in Europe. Given that the drama may die down, with new governments in Greece and Italy, the economic data may become somewhat more important.

Warren Buffett was on CNBC this morning for three hours talking about a whole range of issues from the European sovereign debt crisis to too big to fail to housing in the US to penalties for corporate crime. The video of Europe is below,…

Markets failed to get a lasting boost from change in EZ governments; dollar broadly higher into open. Italy auction met with decent response, but higher yields nonetheless ; change in governments no panacea in EZ. Japan’s preliminary Q3…