Europe

Wow! Just came across this piece from the FT about the concerns of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) of how European financial institutions have not reserved enough against potential credit losses on their Greece sovereign…

The Greeks are starting to play hardball on their private sector debt swap warning the deal could crater if the 90 percent participation is not met. We think there are other reasons why it is trouble.

The fact that Italy's 5-year CDS prices remain elevated (376 now vs 388 on Aug 4 peak) warns that ECB bond buying, fiscal austerity has not convinced private sector investors that the worst is truly past. This offers a poor backdrop from…

As the heat wave which has been hanging over Southern Europe for the last couple of weeks steadily eases off there is little sign that any of the warm air which is dissipating is reaching the chilled motors of the European and Chinese…

The impact of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony – his assessment of the economy and the further accommodation that can be provided to stem economic stresses into next week - will dominate market action into the next week. The G10 currency…

You can ignore the markets if you want to. But, in time, the markets will not ignore you – Nigel Farage, MEP

The latest round of EU GDP data, brought to light a reality which many who have been closely following the economies of Eastern Europe already suspected: that the heavily export dependent economies in the region would almost inevitably be…

We should observe a blowout in Eurozone interbank spreads. And while we may still see this in the coming weeks, we have not seen anything resembling 2008 levels of panic.

This has been an extremely tumultuous week throughout the capital and commodity markets. August itself has been a cruel month. The German stock market has lost around a quarter of its value. A marked slow down in the US and Europe in Q2 has…