sovereign debt crisis

We’ve reached a very rare moment in economic history where the problem is greater than the ability of the politicians to respond.

Market confidence continues to improve amid hopes that euro zone policy makers take bold actions. Slovenia begins vote on EFSF ratification; sharp shifts in positioning may prompt mean reversion. Hong Kong’s trade figures showed a softening…

I want to talk a little about the political economy. A few months ago I added the topic tag “nationalism” to the topics this blog covers because I believe this is an issue which becomes relevant during global economic crises.

It was not immediately clear to many when the current crisis began that it was going to be this kind of event. The G7 and IMF understand how the cash register works and have vast experience in tweaking the cash register from time to time.…

European stocks higher in part from ECB and potential policy action; dollar softer against majors. G10 market focus this week again EZ with EFSF votes, bonds auctions, Greece aid; US macro data. EMs are likely to be dominated by DM…

Spain appears to have dropped off radar screens. In part, a disorderly outcome of the Greek crisis continues to be threatened. Italian bond yields and CDS prices have risen above Spain's. Yet, ironically, earlier this week, Spain's central…

At some point soon, maybe tomorrow, I will be writing an update to two posts: The Fake Recovery and The recession is over but the depression has just begun. The gist of those two posts is still operative and also very relevant, namely that…

The future of Euro is going to be determined by the Greek street in the next few weeks and how they react to the new austerity measures. G-Pap has his work cut out convincing the population the pain is worth it. Stay tuned.

I was on BNN this afternoon talking about the Fed running out of ammo, America banks getting downgraded, European banks needing $300 billion in capital, and Greece defaulting on its debt obligations plus a host of other issues – none of…

Here’s a great chart just released by the International Monetary Fund for Greece, Portugal, and Ireland as well as Japan, the US and the UK. Note that almost half of the US federal government debt is held by the Federal Reserve and the…