Eastern Europe

Yesterday, Latvia was downgraded to junk. Despite its diminutive size, this is a big deal. Fist, it is a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of Eastern Europe. But, more importantly it is a signal that Western European banks…

This comes from Austrian Daily Kurier: A plan to stabilise the economies of Eastern Europe exists. What is missing is a united EU. During and after the Eastern Europe tour by Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Josef Pröll, the…

The following post is from John Mauldin, who is a Best-Selling author and recognized financial expert. He is also editor of the free Thoughts From the Frontline that goes to over 1 million readers each week. For more information on John…

FT Alphaville has a post up indicating that the UBS EMEA economics team is much more sanguine about prospects in Eastern Europe than many market participants. The most important part of the UBS contents reads as follows: We don’t normally…

This video does not mention Austria by name, focusing instead on Ireland, Spain and Greece, but Austria is more of the problem for the Germans as they are leveraged to Eastern Europe. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck became the…

In an interview with Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger, a well-known economist has warned that Switzerland risks bankruptcy, if the recent market turmoil centering on Eastern Europe is not contained quickly. At issue are loans made in Swiss Francs…

The video below gives an excellent view into the issues affecting European banking. Tom Keene, who is Bloomberg Radio's editor-at-large, sees the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the ultimate solution to the problems in Eastern Europe.…

What are the Swiss doing selling dollars? I don't have an answer to this question. But, I thought I would posit it because a reader tipped me off to a development via the Blog Alea:

The need to bailout banks for their aggressive lending in central and eastern Europe is becoming ever more apparent. An Austrian bank has taken the lead in getting a consortium of banks together to lobby the European Union for bailout…