Europe

It is difficult for companies to cope with the competitive implications of the persistent strength of the Swiss franc. By the OECD calculations, the Swiss franc is the most over-valued currency in its universe near 45% over -valued against…

Speculation of some agreement has helped lift the euro, peripheral bonds, and generally has underpinned the risk appetite in recent days. This leaves the market vulnerable to disappointment or a "buy the rumor sell the fact" type of…

I believe the sovereign debt crisis will deteriorate further. And then we will just have to see what the politics of the individual countries in Euroland look like. If austerity brings the economy to a crawl and europopulism is well…

Here’s a list of the countries with the highest debt to GDP in the world

Safe havens continue trade on the back foot as risk appetite resurgences; European stocks up over 1%. Euro trades above $1.42 ahead of tomorrow’s summit; EZ summit likely to address two key issues. Brazil’s central bank expected to deliver…

If the sovereign debt crisis spirals out of control, it is not clear who will govern. At a minimum, Germany’s reputation as a foundational support for the European project will be in tatters. Likely, the governing coalition of CDU, CSU and…

Contagion in the sovereign debt crisis has already spread to Spain and Italy. David Blanchflower believes it may spread yet further to France. On Bloomberg, Blanchflower led off saying this would not be surprising, pointing to the dithering…

There seems to be an aggrieved sense on the part of creditor nations that after providing so much helpful funding to undisciplined debtors, the creditors are going to be left with losses. There is, they claim, something terribly unfair…

At the weekend, I saw three articles asking essentially the same question about sovereign debt crisis contagion: why Italy and why not Japan (the US or Germany)? Here's my answer.

Dollar and other safe havens remain firm amid EZ uncertainties; stocks and commodities retreat. The week ahead is likely to be dominated by EZ summit, debates surrounding US budget and earnings. EM investors continue to focus on the…