Tag Archives: Europe

Negative Yields on Eurozone Sovereign Bonds Becoming New Normal

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“On Wednesday, Finland became the first nation in the region to pay a negative yield on five-year debt sold at auction, suggesting that investors are unperturbed by the country’s weak economic expansion and its dependence on troubled Eastern Europe.  German government bonds offer negative yields on maturities up to six years, according to Tradeweb, as do bonds issued by Denmark. Five-year government debt carries a negative yield in the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Finland, and four-year government debt in France and Belgium.  In Switzerland, bonds with a maturity of up to a staggering 13 years offer less than zero in terms of yield.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/finland-pays-negative-yield-on-five-year-debt-1423057657

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Greek Party Syriza’s Rise Fueled by Professors-Turned-Politicians

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“Mr. Lapavitsas describes the party’s platform as ‘a Keynesian program with redistribution attached, with some Marxist view of the world.’ He adds: ‘We are not ashamed of that.’  In the tradition of John Maynard Keynes, Syriza advocates public spending to reignite economic growth. Greece can afford to spend more if some of its debt is forgiven by other countries.  Nikolaos Chountis, a Syriza candidate in Athens, ticks off the party’s spending priorities: food and electricity subsidies for impoverished households, a pension boost for the poorest retirees, a hike in the minimum wage and tax cuts for low earners.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrizas-rise-fueled-by-professors-turned-politicians-1422045127

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Jim Rogers On Putin, Oil Prices, And A 26-Year-Old’s Advantage

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“To Russia’s credit, Russia has not been sitting around supporting the ruble in any big way. My view of markets is you let them clean themselves out, let the system find a clearing price. To my astonishment, the Russians are being more capitalist than the Western capitalists. They are letting the currency find its own bottom. That will change soon. It will find its own bottom, and then Russia will be a good place to invest.  I was bearish on Russia for 46 years. I went to Russia in 1966 and came away with the idea that this will not work; this cannot work. And only in the last couple of years have I realized that something was going on and changing at the Kremlin.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-rogers-on-oil-russia-investing-mistakes-2014-11

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Iceland capital controls to be lifted this year

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“Initially the controls were only meant to last for a relatively short period of time but have now been in place for over six years.  A large amount of capital, up to 900 billion Icelandic kronur (ISK) according to a report from the finance ministry, is likely to leave the country, since around 95 percent of the banks creditors are foreign.  According to [a newspaper] there has been talk about somehow forcing the exchange of offshore currency and implementing an exit tax of around 35 percent on all transfers out of the country.  Although it is not yet clear what measures will be taken, the prime minister has promised that it will not involve further financial burden for Icelanders, many of whom lost their life savings.”

https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/127152

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Saxo Bank faces £70m losses after Swiss currency turmoil

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“Just over a week ago, the Swiss National Bank shocked markets by announcing that, with immediate effect, it would no longer fix its currency – the franc – against the euro.  That led to a surge in the value of the franc against the euro, at one point by 30%.  It also caught some currency brokers by surprise – many of whose customers could not afford to settle their accounts.  The broker Alpari UK, which sponsors West Ham United football club, collapsed into administration as a result, while IG Index said its potential losses were £30m.  Now the Danish-controlled Saxo bank said that its losses could reach about £70m.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30960558

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ECB unveils massive QE boost for eurozone

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“The European Central Bank (ECB) will inject at least €1.1 trillion (£834bn) into the ailing eurozone economy.  The ECB will buy €60bn bonds each month from banks until the end of September 2016, or even longer, in what is called quantitative easing (QE).  QE in theory increases the supply of money, something that keeps interest rates low and encourages borrowing and therefore spending.  The news sent the euro to an 11-year low against the against the US dollar.  The ECB also said it would keep eurozone interest rates at 0.05%, a record low.  Mr Draghi said the programme would be conducted ‘until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation’.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30933515

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Gold Sector Analysis: Gold Blows Up, Travels to 1300 on EU Easing

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“Gold traders certainly liked gold a lot more than Mario Draghi’s plan for European easing.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/trends-and-sector-reports/36025/Gold-Sector-Analysis-Gold-Blows-Up-Travels-to-1300-on-EU-Easing/

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Charles Burris: Demonizing Putin Campaign Continues

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thelrcblog-5002

“Ambrose Evans-Pritchard himself provided a key piece of the puzzle with his important online expose’ article, ‘Euro-federalists financed by US spy chiefs,’ tracing the covert planning, manipulation, and financing of post-WWII European federalism to top tiers of the American intelligence establishment (which interlocked with key Wall Street investment banks and financial institutions, the major foundations which acted as covert funding mechanisms for these projects, the elite mainstream media which provided disinformation and cover for the endeavor, and entities of the foreign policy establishment such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council).”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/demonizing-putin-campaign-continues/

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France Considers Scrapping Its 35-Hour Working Week

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“The shorter working week was implemented in 2000 by the then-Socialist government as a way to stimulate job creation. But according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, French employees work an average of 39.5 hours per week, just shy of the eurozone average of 40.9 hours per week. According to the Times, the shorter working week hasn’t kept unemployment down — which is at 10.2 percent in France — and might even have led to the rise in part-time contracts, which employers increasingly use to avoid having to pay full-time staff overtime.”

http://time.com/3608782/france-considers-scrapping-its-35-hour-working-week/

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The European Parliament Threatens To Break Up Google

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“Or at least that’s what is being suggested in the European Parliament, that search engines should be forced to be divorced from other business activities. It’s also true that they don’t directly mention Google but that’s obviously who it is aimed at. Fortunately, as a matter of public policy this isn’t going to go very far. Because the European Parliament doesn’t actually have the right to propose either actions or legislation. Only the European Commission can actually propose something and then the Parliament gets to say yea or nay to it.  It is an indication of quite how wildly the (would be) policy makers over here in Europe are out of touch with the way that the real world works.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/11/22/the-european-parliament-threatens-to-break-up-google/

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