Ireland

There are a lot of interlocking threads in the Greek saga. One consistent theme that ties all of the different threads together is the fragility of complex systems. In our globalized and complex world of finance and banking, every major…

Marc Chandler had some good comments on the Greek debt crisis this morning. The main issues, he believes, are contagion and uncertainty, especially as it pertains to sovereign debt infecting the private sector and vice versa. He said:…

This post was originally published at A Fistful of Euros Well, as reported over the weekend on this blog, the EU Commission did in fact demand “more sacrifices” from the Greek people, and in the end Prime Minister Papandreou had to make a…

This comes from Bloomberg News: Estonia is set to meet its goal of adopting the euro in 2011 because of the Baltic country’s work on fulfilling fiscal requirements, European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.…

The last I had heard about a prospective Gulf currency union came yesterday morning in a note by Marc Chandler who is the Chief Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman’s FX group.  He indicated that he was more optimistic about a Gulf…

The Irish government announced draconian spending cuts of 6 billion Euros in order to stave off a debt crisis in the worst modern-day downturn in the nation’s history.  Even so, Irish government bond yields have been rising relative to…

The headline at Bloomberg reads “Ireland, Greece May Leave Euro, Standard Bank Says.”  Before I even started reading this I was sceptical.  The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard makes calls like this, but his Euro-sceptic views…

This December 2009 post is a reminder of the issues at stake with Greece. It is not credible for the EU to lend psychological and political support given the debt loads now burdening the Greek government. More is needed, either financial…

Moody’s anticipates continued losses at Danske Bank, SEB, and Swedbank due to large exposure outside of the Nordic markets.  In particular, exposure in the Baltics is likely to lead to continued writedowns for Nordic banking…

Greece has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings to BBB+ over concerns about its budget deficit. Despite the cut, Fitch maintained a negative outlook on the country’s ratings, meaning it could fall further in the near future.  This action…