Europe

The euro has been sold off in early North American activity.  It does not appear to be news/event driven, but rather some week end profit-taking that triggered some stops.   We do note that many were looking had targeted the…

As Croatia enters the final stage of its EU membership talks, it is perhaps a fitting moment to review the other half of the picture, namely where the Croatian economy finds itself, and what the outlook might be for a continuing convergence…

The following is the press release released by the EU on the subject of the European Bank Stress Tests. There will be 91 institutions undergoing the tests. I have provided a list of the specific institutions below. The greatest number of…

Some reports suggest that the stress that European banks may be tested for include a 17% loss on Greek bonds and a 3% loss on Spanish bonds  German bunds and possibly French bonds will not be stressed--that is to say the stress test…

The market awaits for the European Bank Supervisors to provide more details about the stress tests.  If the market has a better sense of the robustness of the stress tests it might lift some uncertainty among investors. There are…

As we begin the second half of what has already been a challenging year, it may be helpful to consider the potential drivers of the global capital markets.    As always, numerous factors have to be juggled.  Now however,…

It seems so if you read the latest from the Financial Times (hat tip Marshall Auerback): Iceland's banking sector is facing a fresh wave of losses after a court ruling raised doubts over the legality of billions of dollars of loans.…

While most people are tuned in to the failure of the ruling coalition in Germany to get their man Christian Wulff elected president, there are other more important numbers out today. Unemployment in Germany fell to 7.5% in the last month.…

Highlights The US dollar is generally softer, consolidating yesterday’s moves.  In fact, the three best performers yesterday and for the month of June, namely the Swiss franc, British pound and Japanese yen, are the laggards…

In defense of bloggers on the economy Marginal Revolution: How hard is economics? Signal and Noise in Economics Writing, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty Matthew Yglesias » Do I Have Anything Interesting…