Italy

Here are some thoughts regarding the late Friday cut in outlook to negative for Italy’s A+ rating by S&P. While we remain negative on the ratings for peripheral euro zone, we don't think a downgrade of Italy by S&P is clearly…

The policy response to the European debt crisis is critical and that response is function of European politics. There have been a number of developments in European politics that investors should be aware of.

Here our thoughts regarding the rumored downgrade of Italy. While we remain negative on the ratings for peripheral euro zone, we don't think a downgrade of Italy is a sure thing. Its numbers have always been bad, and have in fact stayed…

The euro continues to come under pressure and is making new lows in early North American turn over despite talk of interest from an Asian central bank. The euro has slipped below its 200-day moving average (~$1.3130) for the first time…

Belgium has a caretaker government. It has been unable to form a government since the June election after the previous government collapsed in April. The Netherlands is also struggling to put a coalition together. Italy comes to the fore…

I am going to describe the beginnings of the Euro from a German point of view. I apologize if this post seems unduly harsh. It is meant to give you a more caricaturised view of the breakdown in the euro-zone which dominates the German…

In another blow to a quick resolution of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, reports are surfacing that multiple banks may have arranged swap contracts with Greece to hide their fiscal shortfalls. Bloomberg is now reporting that up to fifteen…

This post originally appeared at Global Economy Matters. The Eurozone's current problems are not mainly a result a of profligate and reckless spending of government resources in the Eurozone periphery . Even Nobel laureate Paul Krugman…

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…

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…