Tag Archives: Greece

Submitted by George Friedman and Jacob Shapiro via MauldinEconomics.com, What will the year ahead look like for Europe? 2017 will be another chapter in the European Union’s slow unraveling… a process that has been underway for over a decade. The EU is a union in name only. The transfer of sovereignty to Brussels was never total, and member states are independent countries… each with their own interests at stake....

Prince, RIP, owned gold bars worth just over $800,000 according to the statement filed in a Minnesota court last Friday. At the time of his death, Prince had taken delivery of and had in his possession 67 gold bars, 10 ounce gold bars, valued at $836,166.70. That’s according to an asset inventory compiled by Bremer Trust released by the Carver County District Court, as first reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune....

Summary: Odds of a March Fed hike edged up last week, and Q4 GDP figures were revised higher. Many continue to expect the new US Administration to pursue pro-growth tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure spending. Although many other high income countries are growing, near trend divergence of monetary policy continues. United States The major US equity indices reached record highs before the weekend even...

As tumultuous as last year was from a global political perspective on the back of a rocky start market-wise, 2017 will be much more so. The central bank subsidization of the financial system (especially in the US and Europe) that began with the Fed invoking zero interest rate policy in 2008, gave way to international distrust of the enabling status quo that unfolded in different ways across the planet. My prognosis is...

While most of the world is enjoying it last day off from the 2017 holiday transition, with Asia’s major markets closed for the New Year holiday, along with Britain and Switzerland in Europe and the US and Canada across the Atlantic, European stocks climbed to their highest levels in over a year on Monday after the Markit PMI survey showed manufacturing production in the Eurozone rose to the highest level since April...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, December 27(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). FX Rates As skeleton teams return to the trading desks in New York, the US dollar is largely where they left it at the end last week.  Japanese markets were open yesterday, while UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Canadian markets are still closed today. The Australian and New Zealand dollars are up about 0.2% from before the...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, December 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates Some mild position squaring pressures are evident ahead of the weekend, and for many market participants the year is coming to an end. Outside of the BOJ meeting next week, the calendar turns light and markets are moving into holiday mode. The Dollar Index is seeing this week’s gains trimmed, but it is...

Via GEFIRA, Some say that the common currency prevents less productive economies from cheating by weakening their national currencies and forces them to become more efficient and competitive. Industrial production data shows that it is not the case. Italy, France, Greece and Portugal have not only stopped producing more; they are producing now less than in 1990! The decay started immediately after the introduction of...

Via GEFIRA, Some say that the common currency prevents less productive economies from cheating by weakening their national currencies and forces them to become more efficient and competitive. Industrial production data shows that it is not the case. Italy, France, Greece and Portugal have not only stopped producing more; they are producing now less than in 1990! The decay started immediately after the introduction of...

Summary: The ECB accepts Greek bonds as collateral but does not include them in its asset purchases. A new staff-level agreement by the end of the year could change that. Finance ministers imply that Greece’s debt is sustainable, but the IMF disagrees. The ECB does not include Greek bonds in its sovereign bond purchase operation. However, the progress is being made, and it is possible that starting early next...