End game Europe approaching.

[HCMh]

German minister wants to break the oligopoly of the rating agencies.

Someone should tell him the horse has bolted.

[jabaar]

market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=189463

Denninger likes it, some classic comments too.

This is getting SCARY

[yoganmahew]

ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/07 … e-default/

Ratings logic at the European Commission — in selective default
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jul 06 13:07.

What with the ECB on Greece, and Moody’s on Portugal, it’s been a week to remember the ancient adage (ahem) that “ratings don’t kill sovereigns, ratings users do.”

Predictably, the European Commission didn’t care on Wednesday:

Mr Barroso might want to remember that Fitch is French… perhaps they have stopped being europeans, though?

[namascama]

Forget about Bilderberg and tin foil hat time, these guys are a fucking menace. Their primacy and unaccountability, as well as the barriers to entry to what they do make them a dangerous fly in the ointment. Given their role in the economic farce of the last decade, it is incredible that they carry such credibility.

[Rick_Flair]

Forget about Bilderberg and tin foil hat time, these guys are a fucking menace. Their primacy and unaccountability, as well as the barriers to entry to what they do make them a dangerous fly in the ointment. Given their role in the economic farce of the last decade, it is incredible that they carry such credibility.

Well, they are only providing advice. Investors can choose to ignore them if they want. But obviously they do have credibility despite recent indiscretions.

[What_Goes_Up]

[dowtchaboy]

https://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/vgupload/ClickYourHeels.jpg

What DO you do for a living, WGU?
Your stuff is always sharp (and funny)!

[What_Goes_Up]

What DO you do for a living, WGU?
Your stuff is always sharp (and funny)!

That pretty much describes what I do!

I’m a classically trained clown assassin.

[dowtchaboy]

What DO you do for a living, WGU?
Your stuff is always sharp (and funny)!

That pretty much describes what I do!

I’m a classically trained clown assassin.

“What’s the point of having a rapier wit if I can’t use it to stab people?”
— Jeph Jacques

[What_Goes_Up]

“What’s the point of having a rapier wit if I can’t use it to stab people?”
— Jeph Jacques

[BoyRacer]

Italy and Spain must pray for a miracle - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard -> telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm … racle.html

Where is the inflation threat? The eurozone’s M1 money supply has contracted on a month-to-month basis over the past two months, with sharper declines in the periphery. Annualized M1 growth is falling, not rising: it was 2.9pc in March, 1.6pc in April, and 1.2pc in May. Broader M3 grew at a rate of 2.2pc over the past three months.

The PMI data for Italy and Spain have dropped below the recession line. The Goldman Sachs global PMI indicator shows that 80pc of the world is tipping into a slowdown, including India and China. Taiwan’s bell-weather exports to China sank 12pc in June from the month before.

The calamitous US jobs data released last Friday leave no doubt that the US remains trapped in depression. Broad U6 unemployment rose from 15.8 to 16.2pc in June; the numbers in work fell by a quarter million to 153.4m; the average time without a job reached a fresh record of 39.8 weeks; hourly pay fell; hours worked fell; the employment/population ratio crashed to new lows of 58.2pc.

This is not a time for the ECB to raise rates. It has repeated the error made in mid-2008 when it tightened into the final phase of an oil shock, when half the eurozone was already in recession. Once is careless, twice is unforgivable.

there is more

[mr_anderson]

Superb work (yet again) WGU.
I’m sure Banksy would approve.

[Puck_may_be_Famous]

€1093.6 to buy one Troy ounce of gold this morning.

A record high for gold or a new low for the euro if you want to look at it that way.

[greentree]

€1093.6 to buy one Troy ounce of gold this morning.

A record high for gold or a new low for the euro if you want to look at it that way.

Those ‘cash for gold’ places will be delighted!

Seriously though, I think this just exposes the weakness of all the major currencies.

[BottomsUp]

zerohedge.com/article/guest- … lt-its-own

Guest Post: The Financial System Is Built On Eggshells: Can Spain Avoid Default On Its Own?

Spain and Italy will have to stand on their own, because when Greece goes, Ireland will most likely go, which will in turn set off a critical mass such that the nation who dictates monetary policy (Germany) will be taking care of its own self.

There is more.

Some very good numbers in there.

[sorehead]

Spain and Italy will have to stand on their own, because when Greece goes, Ireland will most likely go, which will in turn set off a critical mass such that the nation who dictates monetary policy (Germany) will be taking care of its own self.
…
Exposure (to Ireland) in billions (dollars), Q1 2011

US 105
France 56
Germany 159
UK 194

I reckon they’re including the irrelevant (apart from corp. tax) IFSC banks to get to these numbers.

[slasher]

SPAIN’S 10-YR BOND YIELD CLIMBS TO 5.95%, MOST SINCE NOV. 1997… european equity markets down sharply as CDS spike: Greece +117, Ireland +103… Italy +58… Portugal +98… Spain +28…EU stocks: DAX -153… Ibex -287… Italy -647… USd benefiting in early trading as risk is taken off the market… waiting now to see how the US opens its doors in 25 min. crude tech next.

[HouseBuyer]

Some very good numbers in there.

Our level of savings as a percentage of GDP is above that of other PIGS. Perhaps Noonan is right, maybe we are hoarding too much money.

I think we’re all setup for end game this Autumn/Winter. The outcome seems binary to me. Either Germany will follow the muddle-through option of monetizing the debt of PIGS, or else they will pull up the drawbridge and force periphery nations out of the Euro. At this stage, there’s a lot to be said for a two tier Euro. Ireland would have some kind of greater stability (and commonality) in a currency union with Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

[finnie]

At least we could still go to the sun without having to change our money!

[BottomsUp]

businessinsider.com/castilla … z1Ro8jEw4w

Spanish Community Finds It Has Double The Debt It Predicted

The president of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha announced today that the region’s deficit amount to 4% of its GDP, instead of the 1.3% predicted for the year.

This announcement comes as a thinly veiled jab at Spain’s socialist party (PSOE), which lost control of the community in May’s elections and will likely take a beating in the upcoming national elections.

There is more.