Financial markets and institutions are mighty unstable no matter where you look these days. Europe, America, China, Australia. Where are you supposed to go to invest your money?
February 11th, 2012 | Nickolai Hubble | 1 comment | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "government bonds"
Vulnerable to External Influences – The Economic State of Australia (Part I)
Australia’s future is inextricably linked to China and the commodity “super boom”. Australian economic prospects remain vulnerable to international developments outside its control.
February 9th, 2012 | The Daily Reckoning | 2 comments | Continued
Why Europe’s Plan to End the Debt Crisis Can’t and Won’t Work
The actions need to try to stabilize the European debt crisis are well recognized. But Even if measures could be implemented as soon as possible, success is not assured. However without them, the chance of a disorderly collapse is increasingly significant.
February 8th, 2012 | The Daily Reckoning | 0 comments | Continued
How “Adjusting for Slippage” Adds to Sovereign Debt Woes
“Adjusting for slippage” is the latest government fashion…and it is expensive. “Governments of the world’s leading economies have more than $7.6 trillion of debt maturing this year,” Bloomberg News reports, “with most facing a rise in borrowing costs.”
January 20th, 2012 | Eric J. Fry | 0 comments | Continued
My Crystal Ball for the Markets in 2012
There are great opportunities, but also the potential for painful setbacks. The sentiment, of course, applies to all markets – and life in general. Welcome to 2012. What opportunities and surprises can we look for in the year ahead? Some thoughts…
January 17th, 2012 | Chris Mayer | 1 comment | Continued
European Downgrades: Will There Really Be a Fallout?
On Friday, after the close of business in the stock market, S&P downgraded 9 European countries. Spain and Italy were both taken down another notch, leaving Italy with a BBB+ rating and Spain with an A. But the headline damage was done to France, whose triple-A rating got downgraded to AA+.
January 17th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Don’t Invest in Europe’s Debt
On December 5th 2011, S&P warned the Europeans to get their divided house in order. Almost nothing constructive or helpful to solve Europe’s debt problem has happened since then. On Friday the 13th January 2012, Standard and Poor’s cut the credit ratings of nine European countries. S&P’s biggest scalp was France.
January 16th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
The Next Bubble in China’s Economy
We’ve battled this argument before, so we apologise if we repeat ourselves. But it needs to be said because the mainstream media continues to talk gibberish about China’s economy. This is the argument: a falling inflation rate in China allows the authorities to ease monetary policy to avert a hard landing.
January 13th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 4 comments | Continued
How Central Bankers Attempt to “Cure” Insolvency
Whenever a central bank cannot provide direct, overt assistance to a specific insolvent investment bank or government, not to worry, a central bank can still provide indirect, covert assistance.
January 9th, 2012 | Eric J. Fry | 4 comments | Continued
China is the New Number One
From The Economist:
The country that invented the compass, gunpowder and printing is also challenging America in the innovation stakes. We estimate that in 2011 more patents were granted to residents in China than in America.
January 5th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
A Brief Retrospective of the Year Gone By
Before we say goodbye to 2011, let us pause to remember it…briefly. We spent 365 days with it – 365 days in a row. We can’t just move on to 2012 without a least a backward glance. What kind of a year was it? In what direction did it take the world, dear reader? Should we cheer that it is gone…or merely dry our eyes and hope for the best?
January 4th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Australia Forgets the Little People
How about that? Contrary to our gloomy disposition yesterday, the stock market has taken off like a rocket this morning. The material sector is up 2.9% today alone. It was the worst performing sector in Australia on the ASX in 2011, down 25% thanks to lower commodity prices.
January 4th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued
6 Things Governments Might Do To You This Christmas
The break over Christmas is a pretty convenient time for politicians to spring something unexpected on you. Well, unexpected for those who don’t read the Daily Reckoning, that is.
So here is a list of things the governments of the world might unleash on you and your portfolio over the holidays:
December 24th, 2011 | Nickolai Hubble | 7 comments | Continued
When Banks Borrow Themselves Into Oblivion
In years gone by it was a real embarrassment for a bank to go cap in hand to its central bank to borrow funds. It was a sign of weakness. Clearly that’s not the case anymore, not in Europe anyway.
December 22nd, 2011 | Greg Canavan | 11 comments | Continued
Should Banks and Government Merge to Become One?
There was a problem we promised to solve on Monday. To refresh your memory, the problem is that both banks and governments need money. Governments borrow from banks. But because government finances are so terminally bad in Europe, government bonds are destabilising the capital structure of the banking system.
December 21st, 2011 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
