default

Here's a good video from the Tech Ticker guys showing us that the opaque nature of asset-backed securities is catching up with Wall Street again. This is now becoming a problem in the credit card industry.

Ireland was hit hard by the financial crisis in 2009 - before Greece and Portugal came on the scene. It took a complete recapitalization of the banking system via "bad bank" structure called Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) that…

Two years ago I developed a thesis about the negative effect of the Federal Reserve's interest rate policies on bank balance sheets based on my understanding about the history of zero rates in Japan. For bank bond investors, this should be…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a brilliant political tactician. After the latest EU Summit, it seemed she had capitulated after being rounded on by France's Hollande in an effort by Italy's Monti and Spain's Rajoy to prevent the market…

This week I am doing the weekly newsletter in two parts, both outside the paywall. This is part one. As Charles Wyplosz has recently written, the euro zone's rescue strategy adopted in May 2010 has failed. Like his column, this column…

The events surrounding Spain have caused me to throw in the towel on European policy makers. It is clear to me that the events on the ground are moving too quickly for them to adjust their policy stances enough to prevent more catastrophic…

Spain is now ranked ninth for default probability just behind Ireland, with an expected 40% chance of default in the next five years. The Spanish 10-year bond yield has fallen back to 6.70% after reaching a record euro zone high of 6.834%…

Ray Dalio was featured in Barron's at the weekend. He spoke about the various options available to affect a private sector deleveraging. He sees three ways which he calls austerity, restructuring, and money printing. Below is an excerpt…

I still find it hard to believe a Greek exit from the euro zone is imminent. So it's good to see someone push back on the concept that a Greek exit from the euro zone is imminent. John Dizard at the FT does just this in a piece out today…

The Spanish banking system is insolvent and the Spanish government simply does not have the wherewithal to clean it up. This is the problem in Spain that has come to a head, particularly now after the rescue of Bankia, Spain's fourth…