Germany

Moody's Investors Service issued the following press release in connection with a ratings action on German and Dutch regional debt. The action was taken as a result of the change of each sovereign's debt to a negative outlook.

I have said it in the past, but it bears repeating now in view of poor German economic data, as difficult as the austerity/bailout dance has been , it will become even more difficult in a downturn which affects Germany and other core…

Moody's Investors Service issued the following press release in connection with European ratings actions earlier today.

Daily commentary Just a quick word here on three interlocking stories involving Spain and Germany that have come up via the US and European press. Right now, Spain is at the center of the European sovereign debt crisis. The spread…

Right now the spread between Bunds and the Spanish ten-year is 609 basis points. The catalyst for the increase in Spanish spreads may be the news that the indebted Spanish regional government in Valencia is on the verge of seeking a bailout…

Germany had a relatively small trade surplus in the early 1990s. But after the euro was formed, the surplus vaulted higher. The clear implication is that Germany's export sector benefitted hugely from the introduction of the euro.

A recent story in German magazine Der Spiegel highlights the efforts in 2005 of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to relax the penalties for deficits in breach of the euro zone's stability and growth pact. It is a good review of the…

The problem cannot simply be a problem of current account imbalances—we’ve got them all across the US states. And the US, itself, runs a chronic current account deficit. But the US federal government is sovereign, it issues its own…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a brilliant political tactician. After the latest EU Summit, it seemed she had capitulated after being rounded on by France's Hollande in an effort by Italy's Monti and Spain's Rajoy to prevent the market…

Last week's newsletter focused on Monti and Rajoy forcing Europe into true EuroTARP as the chief headline coming out of the latest European summit. A lot of other commentary focused on the agreement to let the ESM/EFSF buy up sovereign…