Spain

I saw this story yesterday in a Swedish newspaper and thought it was interesting enough to comment on. Apparently, Swedish investment professionals are telling clients that the Spanish market is "hot" right now, given the depressed state of…

Moody's issued the following statement in downgrading Spain's sovereign credit rating outlook to negative. Moody's Investors Service has today confirmed the Kingdom of Spain's Baa3 government bond rating and assigned a negative outlook to…

The latest information out of Europe comes via the Financial Times where Miles Johnson writes that the Spanish are geared up to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Troika. Other countries are holding things up, according to this…

In Europe, Spain is expected to formally apply for a Troika bailout in November. Despite the Rajoy's government's denials that it has not sought a bailout, Rajoy and his ministers have never specifically said that they refused to consider a…

I actually thought about doing the daily on the Wells Fargo fraud 'without fraudsters' meme because it really captures the problem with regulation of our financial system but that is a policy issue. Instead, I want to focus on a macro…

The following is the rationale for the ratings action Standard and Poor's took earlier today in downgrading the sovereign debt ratings of Spain Overview     -- The deepening economic recession is limiting the Spanish government's policy…

The Financial Times is reporting that Portugal is likely to need an extension of the three-year bailout plan it received in 2010. This is a disaster for the euro zone and I am writing this post to explain why. The most pressing issue is…

The banks are slowly admitting losses, but Bloomberg's summary is of a slow recognition. Even so, writedowns have left the banks stranded: unable to make loans. Up until now, it appears, the banks and the government were able to carry the…

Bill Gross has admitted that he has started buying Spanish and Italian debt. That's quite a turnaround given he had been saying earlier that he wouldn't touch their sovereign debt with a ten-foot barge pole. So the question is why. And the…

By Marc Chandler The US dollar and Japanese yen are starting the week on a firm note, despite their respective markets closed for holidays. The gains are concentrated against the major European currencies, with the dollar-itself little…