Italy

You saw my comments in the last post on the damage Europe has done in making a mockery of the sovereign CDS market. The Italy situation is worse because of this. Below is a video clip from Monday night of the Lang & O’Leary Exchange, a…

Right now everyone is looking at monetisation and thinking this will save the day. You saw the Lakshman Achuthan video; clearly punters don’t think the US is going to double dip. Buy gold then. Maybe they are right, but I see weakness…

Markets have shifted back to crisis mode amid uncertainty over Italian economic reforms. Three likely scenarios remain after Berlusconi’s upcoming departure; Italian 10-year above 7%. UK September trade data unexpectedly widened, on…

"If a country isn’t growing, it’s debt is growing as a result. So, any interest beyond, let's say 2.5%, is a problem. And with Italy's growth shrinking, as a result of the austerity measures they're putting in place, we're beyond it.…

If you are still inclined to give Greece the benefit of the doubt, I suggest you study the works of Egan-Jones, a credit rating company located in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Contrary to most other rating companies, Egan-Jones does not receive…

European shares are rebounding after a two-day decline; dollar is mostly higher in G10. Italian politics remains front and center ahead of budget vote; UK outlook remains sluggish. With US calendar light, markets likely to focus on Fed…

Assuming that the Greek and Italian political situation stabilize, the focus may shift back to the Iberia. The risk is that the new Spanish government will report a larger budget deficit and weaker finances in general than the outgoing…

Countries like Italy are simply not going to be able to grow their way out of the problem. Everyone is recognizing this now. Until Italy was at the heart of the crisis, we could all delude ourselves that this crisis could be met with…

The euro zone periphery was a sideshow. This stuff with Italy is the real deal. With yields at 6.7% and rising, it’s game over for the euro zone. The extend and pretend stuff ain’t gonna work.

If a central bank guarantees investors credibly that they can invest in certain debt instruments and not suffer principal or interest repayment risk, but only currency and inflation risk, some investors are almost definitely going to buy…