Showing posts with label finante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finante. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

China and France should strengthen high-level exchanges to enhance mutual trust and deepen strategic cooperation on both bilateral and international issues, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
Wang arrived in France on Wednesday for a two-day visit, which will pave way for Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to France next year which marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The trip to France is Wang's first official visit to Europe as foreign minister. He met French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and exchanged views with them on hot international topics including the Syrian and Iranian issues.
"The relations between China and France go far beyond the bilateral realm and have distinct strategic importance. Therefore we should strengthen not only our bilateral cooperation but also coordination on major international issues," Wang said at a news conference.
China and France have vast potential to cooperate in areas such as urbanization, information technologies and agricultural modernization, he said.
Wang also reiterated China's position on the Syrian issue which is to support the settlement of the crisis through political means.
"China supports the second round of Geneva peace talk and the international community should create favorable conditions for various parties in Syria to reach a consensus for the settlement," he said.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will soon visit China for the preparation of the 50th anniversary of China-France relations, according to the French Foreign Minister Fabius.
He said that France has decided to further simplify the visa application procedures for Chinese citizens, which will allow them to get French visa in just two days.
Fabius also noted that the French government wants to deepen cooperation with China on environmental issues as Paris will hold the United Nations Climate Conference in 2015.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

9 trillion dollars goes "missing" - how much of it is in The Budesbank???

There is one major flaw in the money system that I have never heard a single person mention, don't know why, maybe only I can see it, maybe it is the tin foil hat I wear that gave me it, but I am watching the most powerful man in the world clueless on how this happened, well the way I see it is that other countries like china created wealth, but did they really create it or did they borrow it.  If china created its wealth then that would have meant that it built its infrastructure and businesses internally, then it would have added wealth to the worlds circuit of money and been stable.  But if its infrastructure and businesses were borrowed from somewhere else then that is a transfer of wealth from one area to another and if the market of each depend on each other then its life is limited to the point when so much has been transferred so that it reverses in direction so starts an harmonic cycle decreasing in height until both end up even or at war, so very unstable.  This also means that's china's development was not natural as was the development in the west, now if china was many years ago about to start natural development and the west wanted to stop it or control it then this would have been a good plan. but that would have meant a Kissinger type person was about when the US and china first talked.  Anyway as china's development is not natural then it will collapse when who ever borrowed them the stuff wants it back.  And that's why I think it is all a Hollywood script, all written years ago by the likes of Kissinger. they are playing global power games using us poor mugs as pawns.   My simple high school / secondary school dropout understadning is that the United States government ( specifically the Obama adminstration) is operating one of the biggest PONZI schemes in history. OK, I have no law training or degree and I ain't no bean counter. However, this particular administration blackmails the house ( read Republicans) to constantly increase the debt limit. My understanding is that the main buyers of US Treasuries (China and the UK) are farely well maxed out on purchasing US Treasuries and there are no new substantial buyers, so, as the US $ is the main reserve currency it somehow has the right to print more money without having actual physical reserves (gold) to backup all the money it has spread aropund the world. Thus when they increase the debt limit they print more money in order for the Fed (Federal Reserve) to buy (although I understand not directly) their own older treasuries and even newly printed treasuries. His Obamaship and his sycophantic Democratic poodles are intent on going ahead with the Demoncare (the Demoncrats own it as no Republicans voted for it and the majority of the US public do not want it) despite the fact that it is going to need 1.8 trillion dollars to set it in motion. They cannot raise taxes to pay for that so they will increase the debt limit next year, print some more money. Prince Harry over at the Senate meanwhile want to increase next years budget by 1 trillion 5 billion (strange figure). Today the Whitewash House announced that it was going to bail out the forever profligate Democratically controlled bankrupt city of Detroit. Another 17 billion dollars. Has the US taxpayer agreed to that and do they have the money to even do it? Perhaps, they will print more money and also shaft the Detroit debtholders just as they did with Chrysler and GM and favoured banks and financial institutions.    I wonder what the true value of the US $ is today compared to when the investors in US Treasuries bought them. To me it's like when I bought my house for 220,000. I sold it 17 years later for 405,000 and everyone said what a great profit I made on my "real eastate investment". Except, that when I tallied up that I had paid about 370,000 in interest to the kind and gentle banks and the value of the CDN $ had declined I do not think I made anything.  If the house (which i understand is supposed to control the purse strings - although the Emperor Obama (O.K. he has some nice clothes except for nasty golfing shorts and grandpa jeans says he will not negotiate on Demoncare, the debt ceiling, the public debt, any move to cut spending, any move to reduce taxes any attempt to prevent tax increases) allows the Administration to increase the debt ceiling and stop the profligate spending the the rating agencies need to downgrade the US credit rating  (that will help exports from the US anyway and increase the cost of imports (which may provoke the use of every available US sourced  enernergy resource instead of the trillions that it costs to import from countries that hate the US anyway). The mandarins should also stop giving further credit to the US (cut up it's credit card and force it to use a current account debit card). And while they are at it maybe they should devalue the greenback.  The US currency has the motto "In God We Trust". I have news for the big spenders, that was not put on the currency to indicate that they trusted God to be the lender of last resort when they had spent their money on idols. Plus, if there is a deity I doubt that he has much trust left in the three equal but separate parts of the US government or any level of US government. OK, you can now tell me I do not know what I am talking about and how everything I said is wrong (no abusive language please, it just reflects on you, not me). However, when you are telling me how wrong I am then tell me how wonderfully brilliant and correct the US governance is.
 


....So 9 trillion dollars goes "missing" and I'm sitting here poor, eating GMO foods because I can't afford anything better... my cat has problems breathing and I don't know if I'll have the money to take her into the veterinarian but hey! at least they all the money they could ever need, they probably wipe their ass with money they are so rich.


Monday, September 16, 2013

The euro-zone economy plunged last quarter at its fastest pace in nearly four years, as weakening global activity and deep recessions along the currency zone's southern border gripped powerhouses such as Germany and France.
The report on gross domestic product from the European Union's statistics office highlights a key risk for the currency bloc as Europe's debt crisis enters its fourth year. Financial market conditions have improved markedly since last summer, due in large part to the European Central Bank's pledge to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro. But these gains haven't translated into new business activity.Without growing economies, Spain and Italy will likely see government-debt burdens increase even as they undertake austerity measures such as higher taxes and reduced spending. That could revive doubts in financial markets about the sustainability of their finances. GDP in the euro zone fell 0.6% in the fourth quarter compared with the third, according to the Eurostat report. Economists had expected a 0.4% drop. It was the third straight GDP decline and fifth straight quarter in which the currency bloc failed to expand. For 2012 as a whole, GDP fell 0.5% from the prior year.
GDP in Germany, Europe's largest economy, fell 0.6% from the previous quarter on declining exports and investment. France, the bloc's second biggest, declined 0.3%. Other large economies including Italy, Spain and the Netherlands contracted.
Italy's GDP plummeted 0.9% from the previous quarter, a much sharper rate of decline than the third quarter. Spain's downturn also deepened. Portugal's GDP slid 1.8% in the final three months of 2012, double the third quarter's rate of decline.
ECB officials expect the euro zone to embark on a gradual recovery later in 2013. But the source of that rebound remains elusive. Record-high unemployment in the euro zone has weighed on consumer spending, while fiscal austerity measures are expected to weaken state spending and employment in many euro countries this year. Borrowing costs for small businesses remain elevated in Spain and Italy. In Germany, where unemployment is much lower than other parts of the region, the economy appears to be bouncing back quickly with business surveys signaling a return to growth this quarter, aided in part by stronger exports to Asia. Weakness in late 2012 "is likely to be a springboard for a small V-shaped rebound" as soon as this quarter, said Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz.
But surveys of purchasing managers and other business leaders suggest France continues to contract this quarter. French industry has lost global competitiveness in recent years as its labor costs rose, economists say. A raft of tax increases imposed by President François Hollande is adding to the headwinds facing the economy.
The French government is preparing to at least halve its 0.8% GDP growth forecast for this year, officials familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. The smaller size of the economy and fall in tax receipts is also derailing government plans to cut the budget deficit to 3% of GDP this year.
"In order to maintain its position at the epicenter of the euro area in economic terms, France has a lot of work to do," said analysts at J.P. Morgan JPM -0.94%in a research note.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

BLOWIG HOT AIR ... Greece is far form being OK...Greeks are though...

GERMANY BLOWING HOT AIR - "Greece is getting on track," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in Brussels as the meeting ended. "It is not easy for them."  The agreement reached on Monday night foresees an initial payment of €2.5 billion this month to be followed up by more payments in subsequent months. Greece's creditors are primarily concerned by the slow progress Athens has made on downsizing its public sector, with thousands of additional layoffs pending. The country's privatization program has also generated much less cash than expected, most recently as a result of the government's inability to find a buyer for the natural gas company DEPA. Tax reform and the pursuit of tax dodgers is another area where Greece's creditors have demanded improvement. "It's time to step up the momentum of reform in Greece," said European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.  Still, the public sector cuts are controversial in Greece, with thousands of teachers and municipal workers taking to the streets of Athens on Monday and Tuesday. Some 12,500 state employees are to be placed on administrative leave by the end of September with an additional 12,500 to join them by the end of the year. They will receive 75 percent of their salary for eight months. If they haven't found a new job by then, they will be unemployed.
There is concern that the additional cuts could further damage the country's fragile economy which, while slowly improving, is still stuck in its sixth straight year of recession. Economists forecast that the country could return to growth next year -- a tiny increase of just 0.6 percent -- but some worry that dividing up aid payments could derail the slow recovery. The agreement to continue funding Greece, however, was by no means unexpected. Despite widespread concern with Athens' slow pace of reform, there is little appetite for risking a return of the euro crisis by withholding funding. The situation in Portugal has made European finance ministers even more cautious. Political instability in Lisbon last week recently triggered a spike in the interest rate on Portuguese sovereign bonds. The country was able to avoid a collapse of the government, but Lisbon must nevertheless push through an additional €5 billion austerity package in the coming months, and there are concerns that political worries might return.
Greece too has seen its share of political instability in recent weeks, with the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras almost collapsing due to its sudden and controversial shutdown of public broadcaster ERT. One of the parties in his three-party coalition left, leaving him with a tiny three-seat majority in parliament.
It is unclear whether France's proposal to provide direct aid to Greek banks will gain much traction. Some €60 billion of the €500 billion ESM fund has been made available to provide direct assistance to euro-zone banks that need it. But it remains controversial. Furthermore, European leaders only recently agreed to involve shareholders, creditors and individual countries should large banks find themselves in need of help. It remains unclear whether that agreement applies to existing cases like Greece.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Some thoughts about EUROPE - The once-booming former Yugoslav republic was plunged into recession by the economic crisis, which dented demand for its exports of manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and food. The economy is expected to shrink by at least 2% this year. But the statistic that has everyone concerned is the €7bn of bad loans on Slovenian banks' books, an amount equivalent to around one fifth of the country's total GDP. The rating agency Moody's has already downgraded Slovenia's second largest bank, and the IMF has estimated that the government needs to recapitalize the nation's lenders to the tune of at least €1bn. Perhaps most worrying is the fact that the Slovenian prime minister, Alenka Bratušek, was moved to say this week that her country would not be seeking a bailout. Bond investors are not taking any chances. Prices of Slovenian government debt have plunged, sending yields rising by an eye-watering 0.8% on Wednesday alone. Slovenia's 10-year debt is now yielding around 6.15%, not far from the 6.49% yield on 10-year bonds from Portugal, which is already in a bailout program. Laurence Wormald at SunGard Financial Systems said: "The evidence suggests that action will be needed by Slovenia within the next two, three months. However, a bail-in is likely to be less drastic than the one in Cyprus, since Slovenian banks are much less leveraged than those of Cyprus. Also Slovenia is different from Cyprus in one crucial respect, in that Slovenia has not created a large offshore banking center." After Slovenia, who's next? The research house Capital Economics has its money on Malta and Luxembourg....
 
I think there are only 2 options left:
1. Either a split up into a northern and southern Euro-zone
2. or Germans, leave the Euro-zone. This would mean to forgive debt in the amount of about 1,2 trillion Euros, but I think it is worth it. A growing number of Germans is sooo fed up with this Euro-debacle.  Naive and stupid as we actually are, we initially thought this was meant to be a peace project. And now take a look around. A bunch of incompetent Eurocrats turned this beautiful idea into a devastating nightmare. Before we knew what was happening we were catapulted to the helm of Europe and everyone expected us to wave a magic wand to solve the crisis.
Unfortunately we didn't have a magic wand and so we proposed the same recipe for southern Europe which put Germany back on track 10 years ago. Now it doesn't work for a number of intricate reasons, and suddenly Merkel gets depicted with a Hitler mustache, with the German economy morphed into a German Panzer conquering Europe - accused to have sold our products at gunpoint to helpless southern Europeans.
I think it is time for all Europeans to leave this Euro-zone-kindergarten to avoid further misunderstandings.

 

Monday, October 22, 2012

At least the Greeks, the Spanish and the Portugese are starting to fight against the rape of their countries by the EU and the IMF.
Unlike the spineless Brits who just bend over and take it, from Cameron and his Atlantic Bridge coterie.
The fire-sale is under way, and the taxpayer will be paying for the largesse enjoyed by the shareholders and parasites of the multinationals.
It isn't going to be a two-speed Europe; it is going to be Greater Germany and the rest. And sooner or later, if Angie is still in office, she is going to be kowtowing to a (German) president of Europe. Only vassal states need apply. And they have. It's just that one or two are choking on the small print....Anthee Carassava is on the ground in Athens and she writes:
Thursday's protests are part of a 24-hour nationwide strike the country's two biggest labour unions have organised as European leaders meet in Brussels to decide the fate of the single currency. It is the second job walk out millions of Greeks have taken to in three weeks; the 20th since the financial crisis here erupted nearly three years ago.
“Just once,” said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union, “the government should reject [international] lenders’ absurd demands. “Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair and the consequences as well as the protests will be indefinite.”
From taxi drivers to doctors and diplomats, the strike is expected to paralyze an already suffocating economy. Ships remained docked, hospitals were operating on skeleton staff, and dozens of domestic and international flights face cancellations leaving travelers stranded as air traffic controllers joined the protest, keeping aircraft grounded and the country isolated from the rest of the world for three hours.
At least 4000 police have been deployed in the city centre alone. At least 12 buses of riot police and three water canons were propped outside parliament, shielding the building -- a favourite target of protests -- from militant demonstrators.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Just to complete my daily bit of good-natured German-bashing...
German media (in a complete misrepresentation of the facts) says the Greeks work less and retire early... yet the EU's own figures show that the average Greek works many more hours P/A than the average German.
And they overlook that Greece is largely in the trouble it is, because the one-size-fits-all interest rate of the Euro is essentially decided by Germany, for Germany.
Financial houses (many German) were lending to Greece at the same rate as they would lend to Germany.
Where was the German discipline there?
As Schäuble mentions, the population of Europe are not going to agree to German domination of Sovereign states until they have been "convinced" that the measures are necessary.
This is where the lack of leadership in solving the Euro crisis comes into play.
Markets are panicking because everyone is being told we need German leadership in Europe but we don't have it.
Merkel keeps going to meetings. Still no solid solution.
This game will continue to be played, and markets continue to take a hit, until European leaders BEG for Germany to take what she wants in return for German financial underwriting. UPDATE - European leaders have agreed a timetable to set up a single eurozone-wide banking supervisor run by the European Central Bank over the course of next year, a rapid pace that marks a victory for a French-led group that had pushed for a quick first step towards a banking union for the single currency.
But at an EU summit that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning, leaders failed to agree on the second key step in the process: when the eurozone’s €500bn rescue fund will be able to start injecting cash directly into failing European banks, giving in to German resistance.

Friday, September 28, 2012

On the german news-front:
- Just breaking: the SPD has apparently decided its Chancellor Candidate for 2013. Peer Steinbrück, ex-finance minister in Merkel's first coalition, will be Merkel's challenger. The best choice. He recently called for the splitting up of german universal banks (deutsche- and commerzbank), picking up the suggestion from the Vickers report.
But my favourite Steinbrück piece in english remains: Germany's outspoken finance minister on the hopeless search for 'the Great Rescue Plan.' (from 2008, english, newsweek) featuring the "crass keynesianism" quote, aimed at Gordon Browne.
- On Banking Union: Weidmann of the Bundesbank is also against taking on historic liabilities, as were the three "northern" finance ministers early in the weekreports SZ (not going to happen)
- also on banking reform, a sharp attack on german "backsliding" by the euro-friendly economist blogger charlemagne The other moral hazard: If the euro zone is to survive, Germany too must keep its promises to reform
- the daily dose of CSU-politicians-throwing-their-weight-around comes from Bavaria's Finance Minister Söder. who wants a german veto at the ECB. "The one who is liable and pays, decides" (SZ, german)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Euro and the EU itself have never been about what the 'Germany' or 'Spain' or 'The UK' wants, it is only what the leaderships of those countries want, even in the face of popular votes against the EU.
"Germany" ( read Germans ) will not decide anything, the people will never be given a say, much like the rest of the peons across Europe.
Of course Germany wants to save the Euro, but will only do so if they are able to maintain their 'advantage' in the export markets to other Euro and EU states. One disadvantage for Germany would be if the Eurozone countries decided to allow the ECB to start buying the sovereign bonds of the indebted countries. Germany will never allow that to happen as it would mean that they would have to share a much bigger burden of the Eurozone "collaterized" debt than they do at present. It's called German self preservation....Unfortunately, it still appears as though Europe’s top policymakers – that is, the Germans – are trying to “muddle through”, as opposed to coming up with a good, powerful solution. To understand this situation, it is instructive to reflect on Spain’s “problems” in comparison with those of Greece and perhaps Ireland. While Spain’s widely cited problems of high unit labour costs and current account deficit are symptoms of it sitting inside a rigid currency zone, before 2007-08 these problems existed but were not highlighted. They were seen as an understandable consequence of a monetary union such as the euro area.

Friday, July 27, 2012

An interesting point -- Spanish 10 year debt is yielding 7.5pc, half of what it ought to yield but enough to spook markets not yet ready to face the inevitable deflation of what has long been a bond super-bubble. This bubble is particularly evident in France. The debt levels which the country has are as unsustainable as Britain’s, yet its policies are more irresponsible and its remedies more restricted. Although it is considered a core country in the eurozone, France’s economic profile now bears more resemblance to Greece’s the Germany’s. Public debt in France is at 86.1pc of GDP (146pc if ECB liabilities and bank guarantees are included). The projected budget deficit this year is 4.5pc, with France having exempted itself from the EU’s instruction to bring deficits down to 3pct by the end of the year. These numbers are not unusual in the context of eurozone economies in general. What distinguishes France is the lack of political will to address them and, as a consequence, a projected debt to GDP ratio which would place it firmly amongst the PIIGS grouping. A 2010 paper by the Bank of International Settlements – cited by economist John Mauldin in his brilliant recent dispatch on ‘hidden lions’ – sought to model the likely effects of three separate policy paths by European governments. These range in severity from governments essentially carrying on as they are, to the most extreme austerity the authors believe to be politically possible, a gradual downwards movement in government spending while age related entitlements are frozen.

Friday, May 25, 2012

"There are none more hopelessly enslaved, than those that believe they are free."

I wonder if Van Rompuy would give me a well paid position in the "EU government".... We see Greeks are talking of a local currency, I said over a year ago this was an option, not just for Greece but us all, a local currency that cant be traded outside the country would keep some form of money circulating and provide the basics, it would also allow the Greeks to keep the bulk of their savings in euros if governments allowed the local currency to pay taxes then it will take off on its own, it will mean that local currencies will find their own level against the main currency, put as you have the option to hold money in a main currency account that to will be self limiting, now i suggested this ages ago as a way to keep people in work and in their homes and i said that it would come sooner or later because people always have the need to trade so always find a token for that....one could almost get rid of welfare and pensions cost if you paid them in a local currency....We had to watch Barroso, and Rumpoy , "Twins of Evil" talking about the Greek election, how Greece must be allowed "Democracy" said Barroso. Democracy, what Democracy?Democracy When the Brussels parliament Says so, is Not Democracy! The Greek's were denied an election a few months ago, so another Goldman Sacks puppet could be Un-Democratically installed! It's a Takeover! The poor people in Greece, and Spain, Italy, and Britain are next. Dictator's don't know where their boundaries end. They have none. They want It ALL.The slavery laws are in place. People are being enslaved by Debt. "There are none more hopelessly enslaved, than those that believe they are free." Wellll...as for me, I've got a great idea which will be a "courageous leap of political imagination" ... An EU VAT on top of all the outrageous VAT's already burdening the citizens of Europe's individual nation states. Of course start it off at a mere 5% or so....and then when the lemmings simmer down and forget about it, you can jack it up to 15 or 20% ...

Thursday, October 27, 2011

THE RIBBENTROP - MOLOTOV PACT - IMPLEMENTED - the second pillar.

THE RIBBENTROP-MOLOTOV PACT - IMPLEMENTED - the second pillar. Germany takes over the administration of Europe. In Berlin, the new epicentre of political as well as economic Europe, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was putting the finishing touches to her government statement to the Bundestag on the broad shape of the new "bazooka" – the enhanced bailout fund, or EFSF, that would save Europe from any reprise of the sovereign debt crisis that has overtaxed the powers of EU leaders to assert the primacy of politics over the naked short-sellers of financial markets. The letter – which Berlusconi hopes will give him a respite from humiliating criticisms of his country's €1.9tn debt and stagnant economy – was in Rome, being touched up by his advisers, but it was one of three key elements to a day destined to determine Europe's future. Down the road in Brussels from the marble-clad Justus Lipsius building, the current home of the council of ministers, EU officials – marshalled fittingly enough by an Italian treasury official, Vittorio Grilli – began a new session of their tortuous, often aggressive talks with leading bankers over how to reduce Greece's debt burden and allow a second bailout package to go ahead. Later the negotiations over the "haircuts" for holders of Greek debt moved from the Lex building to Justus Lipsius so they could be closer to Europe's political leaders. The overnight news from Rome was that Berlusconi had cut a deal on pensions reform with the Northern League, but that did not pacify the Italian press corps, the biggest national contingent in Brussels and the best-paid. At the midday news conference in the Berlaymont, the European commission's headquarters, that letter was the sole topic. "Can't we interest you in anything else?" Olivier Bailly, the spokesman, asked plaintively. He could not.

As Donald Tusk, the Polish premier whose country holds the rotating presidency, set out the achievements so far, a leak of the draft eurozone summit communique began doing the rounds. It again contained no figures, preferring instead to talk of boosting the bailout fund's firepower "severalfold" and strengthening the role of the European commission as Greece's debt and budget inspector. No word of those "haircuts" for the banks. Merkel and her team had spent all day lowering expectations of breakthroughs, big bangs, full-range bazookas; as dinner for the eurozone 17 loomed it looked pretty clear they were right.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

High-speed computerized trading, called high-frequency trading, is exacerbating the market's big swings. "The moves up and down are because of headlines. The volatility is so high I have no doubt it's due to role of high-frequency trading and algorithms that are exasperating price moves in the market, " says Sal Arnuk of Themis Trading. "Where see 3% and 5% moves — the moves would have been half that without high-frequency trading," Arnuk says. "You'd still have the moves up and down — that's the natural flow of the markets, but because of the outsized role of (exchange traded funds) and the increasing role of high frequency trading and how they prey on (investors), these moves become more outsized." Gold, considered a safe haven in troubled times, continued climbing to new highs, surging through $1,800 an ounce before closing at about $1,794. U.S. Treasuries also rallied, pushing yields down to 2.12%, near Tuesday's record 2.03% low.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The ECB's U-turn on buying Spanish and Italian bonds may suggest that the eurozone's financial establishment is edging towards fiscal union. But don't confuse a shuffle, performed over a weekend in the midst of a crisis, with the real thing. German public opinion will continue to dictate chancellor Angela Merkel's freedom to act. Will the ECB “sterilize” its purchases?... So far, the ECB has said it isn’t printing euros to run its secondary-market bond buying program (which has been going for more than a year for Greece, Ireland and Portugal). That’s because for every euro it spends on government bonds, it vacuums up a euro–thus there’s no net increase in liquidity. Up to now, the ECB has done this every week by taking in deposits; the volume is now at €74 billion. Can the ECB continue to do this if the volume is several times bigger? We are somewhere in Act IV or V of the euro-zone debt drama, but, lo!, the European Central Bank has descended, deus ex machine, to buy Italian and Spanish bonds. This is a major, major development. Here are three things to consider. How long will it last?.... The ECB very much did not want this role of crisis-fighter of last resort. For months, it had agitated for euro-zone governments to seize the mantle. The governments’ attempt, at the July 21 summit, was judged too little by markets, and the rout of Italy commenced. The governments then made clear they weren’t interrupting their August holidays to do anything else before the fall, and so the crisis was left to the folks in Frankfurt. Look for them to try hard come September to hand it off to Paris, Berlin and Brussels. This is the crux of the euro-zone tug-of-war: Do the governments of the strong countries tax their citizens to pay for the rescue? Or does the ECB create euros to pay for it?

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Begining with 2006 International credit rating agencies were paid billions of dollars to bundle junk debt for international financiers. All the international credit rating agencies bundled the junk debt and then rated all this junk as AAA+ risk free investments, and having paid the credit rating agencies to do this on their behalf, crooked financiers then sold these junk investments to European banks - making them go bust. Then European politicians decided - the banks can't crash - we must let each state go bankrupt and each state crash instead and take on all this debt from the private sector - (miss-rated by the credit rating agencies and miss-sold by international financiers). And then what happens - the same credit rating agencies start waging war on Europe on behalf of the same international financiers that stole our money - to force Europe to sell all their assets - and the international financiers are using the money they stole from European banks to now buy up the European state assets that we are being blackmailed into selling. This is war - just because there are no bullets, bombs or tanks on our streets - the result is the same These financiers are using the money they stole from Europe to buy up our assets and European companies to ensure they control everything and that the people of Europe have to work longer without pensions, have no state benefits, have no national assets and no armies, navy or air force to defend our selves. While our governments wage war on Libyan people our politicians are too cowardly to wage war right back on the international financiers and the credit rating agencies on our behalf . Why are our governments not investigating this financial war being waged on us and why did they force our states to take on this private sector debt. We should all stand together in Europe and tell the financial sector - every single penny of banking debt is being put into one pot and we are not paying a penny of it until every single transaction and credit rating decision on every penny of the debt is investigated. And if the credit rating agencies were found to be fraudulent in their ratings - then the credit rating agencies take on the debt and also has to pay compensation and punitive damages for each bundle of debt they miss-rated and miss-sold to European banks. This is war and it is time our politicians took the war straight back to the people that are causing it.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Spanish and Italian benchmark bond yields rose after the auctions, and the premium demanded to hold Spanish debt rather than lower-risk German bonds widened. Investors also focused on possible obstacles to the implementation of the Greek deal, with benchmark interbank lending rates for euros rising amid speculation some bondholders might not participate in the crucial debt exchange. Just days after policymakers toasted a €109bn (£96bn) bailout aimed at hauling Greece back from the brink of insolvency, speculation gathered pace that some of its hapless bondholders might shun a distressed debt exchange. There are also worries that the recent move to boost the powers of the European Union's bailout fund will not be enough to limit contagion and that its size will need to be increased to provide assistance for larger economies. Italian and Spanish bond yields were at levels seen before the Greek second bailout agreement amid renewed worries about contagion to debt-laden countries. The main European debt concern is now whether larger countries like Italy and Spain will get sucked into the mire. Peter Schaffrik, head of European rate strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said: "Over the past couple of days we have had a [re-escalation] of the crisis in the eurozone because the Greek deal isn't seen to be a solution, and at the same time we have the debt ceiling saga in the US. It all contributes to tension." The ratings agency Moody's has already cut Greece's debt rating by three notches to Ca, leaving it just one notch above what is considered default, and has said that the chance of a default is now "virtually 100%". Moody's warned that while last week's bailout package agreed by eurozone leaders would make it easier for Greece to reduce its debt, the country still faced medium-term solvency challenges and that there were significant risks in implementing the required reforms.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The yield on 10-year Spanish bonds popped back above 6% yesterday and Italian 10-year yields stand at 5.66%. Such rates, if sustained for long periods, are simply unaffordable. Unsurprisingly, bank shares across Europe were also whacked yesterday. The problem is twofold. First, the politicians didn't get to grips with the size of Greece's debt problems. After a round of modest haircuts for private-sector creditors and a reduction in the rate on the interest rate charged on the bail-out loans, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio should no longer hit 170% soon. But the revised figure – maybe 130% – still looks too high to allow Greece to recover. Its economy is still too uncompetitive and you have to be an extreme optimist to believe tax receipts will arrive when they are due. So a third Greek bailout looks like only a matter of time. Get ready for more bitter rows over how the pain should be distributed between holders of Greek bonds and the taxpayers of other eurozone countries. That is no way to encourage companies to invest or consumers to spend – but it is the way to try the patience of German taxpayers. The second problem is the design of the European Financial Stability Facility – the rescue fund that is to be the first line of defence against speculative attacks. But how would Italy and Spain be defended in practice? The EFSF has been handed powers to intervene but no new cash. A fighting fund would have to be raised by passing the hat round member states – a challenge that looks a tall order today.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Two of the leading Petrom top managers, who were in the company's management team ever since the privatisation of the oil and gas producer in 2004, have this year left to carry out the reorganisation of OMV's latest acquisition: Petrol Ofisi."I won't be talking about Petrom today because it is already going in the right direction, of integration. Let's talk about Turkey." This was one of the opening messages conveyed by Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, CEO of OMV in London, at the latest media summit organised by the Austrian oil group, Petrom's majority shareholder.
In mid-October, OMV finalised the acquisition of Turkey's biggest petrol station chain, Petrol Ofisi, for which it paid one billion euros, securing a significant share of a market credited with the biggest chances of growth in the next period.Reinhard Pichler, 49, former CFO of Petrom, left his position last week, being replaced by Daniel Turnheim, a member of the OMV group since back in 2002. Pichler is not leaving the group, however, but will go to Turkey, where he will fill the same position he has occupied in Petrom since 2004.At the beginning of this year Tamas Mayer, who used to be in charge of Petrom's marketing operations, i.e. of the nearly 550 distribution stations, left the position to become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Petrol Ofisi. According to some sources, Mayer will be running marketing operations within Petrol Ofisi, as well.Agerpres, Mediafax, Romanian Vancouver Sun,Global News, Financial Times,Tribune, ,Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today,Le Monde

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

China - the new frontier for EU Investors


China's rapid growth is easing to a manageable pace and Beijing can do more to reconfigure its economy to promote domestic consumption and reduce reliance on trade, the World Bank said Wednesday. Inflation that has risen steadily this year should level off and is unlikely to be a serious problem, the bank said in a quarterly China outlook. The Washington-based bank raised its 2010 growth forecast from 9.5 percent to 10 percent and said the expansion should slow to 8.7 percent next year. Growth eased to 9.6 percent in the three months ending in September, down from 10.3 percent the previous quarter, as the government imposed lending and investment curbs.
"We think that coming from this very strong growth, China should be able to ease into a more sustainable growth rate in the long term," said the report's main author, Louis Kuijs, at a news conference.
The outlook reflects China's status as the first major economy to rebound from the global crisis on the strength of a flood of stimulus spending and bank lending. While Washington and others are trying to shore up growth, Beijing faces the challenge of cooling inflation and restoring normal conditions.
Beijing needs to boost wages and consumer spending and promote growth of private and service businesses to reduce reliance on exports and energy-intensive heavy industry, the World Bank said.
"The need to rebalance to more domestic demand-led, service sector-oriented growth seems stronger now than five years ago," said Kuijs. "Internationally the environment is less favorable than it was."
Communist leaders made raising domestic consumption a priority in their latest five-year economic plan crafted at a meeting last month. But it also was a goal in their previous plan and private sector analysts say Beijing has yet to take major steps to shift emphasis away from manufacturing and construction. The World Bank recommended opening up more industries to private business, changing the way energy prices are set to encourage efficiency and nurturing private-sector research and development. The bank cautioned against abrupt steps such as mandating sharp wage hikes, saying Beijing instead should look at gradual changes such as allowing more rural workers to move to cities and changing energy prices that favor heavy industry."We are looking for a market-oriented, market-friendly way of getting this consumption growth, consistent with continued strong growth," Kuijs said. Inflation that hit 3.6 percent in September, well above the 3 percent government target, should level off but might stay as high as 3.3 percent next year, the bank said. Kuijs said that in developing economies such as China, inflation of 3 to 5 percent might be acceptable as industries grow rapidly and demand for resources shifts."We still do not think China's inflation is at a very serious risk of escalating but we also do not think China will go back to the very low rate of inflation it saw in 2005," he said.
The bank also cautioned that China's politically contentious trade surplus is likely to rebound in 2011 after narrowing temporarily this year.
The multibillion-dollar trade gap has strained relations with Washington and other trading partners and prompted some U.S. lawmakers to demand sanctions over Chinese currency controls blamed for widening the surplus.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

IMF to relax deficit targets for the co-funding of more EU projects


The IMF should relax budgetary gap targets for Romania so that more EU projects could be co-funded, states Andreas Treichl, a CEO with Erste Group, which controls BCR. "Romania is in a situation of conflicting objectives: its strong advantage are the funds available from the EU, but governmental funding is also necessary for these funds to be used. If money from the budget is allotted, deficit targets agreed on with the IMF are overshot and a conflict of 'interests' emerges. The IMF could relax the targets for the European funds to be used. This will be a very interesting exercise in the following months," Treichl stated.Banks have a direct interest in the success of such a move, considering many entrepreneurs and public authorities need loans to be able to co-fund the European funds they try to get. It remains to be seen whether the banking lobby in this respect will be as strong as in the case of modifications requested for Ordinance 50 regarding retail loan contracts.