Europe

The Dutch have now also signalled a firming opposition to a bailout of Greece, adding to the chorus of voices in Germany which are categorically against such a move.  While I had previously said some sort of support could be…

I will be away all week, so I will have a number of guest contributions in that time. Here is a great one from John Mauldin, who I frequently publish.  At the bottom is a blurb on how to subscribe to his newsletter.  It is worth…

This is a post by Edward Hugh, who also blogs at Global Economy Matters. “If you don’t fully understand an instrument, don’t buy it.” To the above advice from Emilio Botín, Executive Chairman of Spain’s Grupo Santander, I would simply…

Update: 2010-02-24. The Wall Street Journal has picked up on this theme. See Wealthy Greeks Send Money Abroad. The point is that the taxation rules are not necessarily going to increase taxes. They will, however, increase capital flight.

Edward Hugh here. Well, I may say there were no surprises, but in fact the Greek economy contracted more than many observers expected in the fourth quarter, while downward revisions to the rest of 2009 converted the present recession into…

Claus Vistesen here with a first post on Credit Writedowns. GDP releases are, by their very nature, lagging indicators and thus do not tell us a whole lot about the current momentum in an economy. Moreover, the immediate focus of attention…

The great Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran once wrote that sometimes the mountain is clearer from the plane than the summit.  This insight may be applied to the foreign exchange market.   Currencies in the modern era, not backed…

Folks, if I can get out of here , I will.  I need the sun and that relaxation that only Mexico can provide.  So expect light posting next week.  Meanwhile, DC expects yet more snow on Monday (ha ha ha – Schadenfreude – ha…

Well, it isn’t only my German economy Q4 call, or my Japanese economy one which look OK right now, this Italian one also now seems very much to the point. In fact, as I suspected it might, the Italian economy went back into contraction…

This post was originally published at A Fistful of Euros. A new kind of battle is going on out there at the moment. In what must surely be a new twist to the old dialectic of blow against blow argument, a combination of the internet age…