The euro (EUR) has gotten swatted back to the corner it came from after the Grand Plan was announced last Wednesday night… The single unit is doing the rope-a-dope, and fighting to stay on terra firma, but to no avail… The scary creature from Greece has deep-sixed the euro and thus the other currencies, even yen (JPY), Swiss francs (CHF), and gold…
[Read more...]Greece Votes To “Implement” Austerity Measures
July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
When I clicked on the currency screens this morning, the euro (EUR) was doing well, trading around 1.4525, but then a cat was thrown among pigeons, when it was announced that the Eurogroup meeting scheduled for July 3, had been cancelled. That really threw the markets for a loop… And the euro lost 1/2-cent in a NY minute… But, it looks like it was a knee-jerk reaction to the news, and the euro is trading back to 1.45 at the moment…
[Read more...]Why Greek Austerity Does Not Equal Solvency
June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
My daughter is not Greek…but she sometimes acts like it. This observation is not meant to disparage my daughter…or the Greeks. It is simply an observation.
My daughter, Gaby, often makes promises, just before asking me for money. Yesterday evening, after she dirtied up a frying pan and a few kitchen utensils to make some pasta, I asked her to clean up the mess.
[Read more...]Why Greece Should Default and Go Broke With Dignity
June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
First, the market news.
Yesterday, stocks went up. Gold went up. And bonds went down.
It was a ‘risk on’ day…but not so much of one that you could draw any conclusion from it.
Investors still had the Greek debt crisis on their minds. But they seemed to have gotten tired of worrying about it. All the financial sweepers in Europe are working around the clock, trying to get the mess under the carpet or out the door. By the looks of the markets, they were succeeding.
[Read more...]Greece Dominates Markets’ Focus
June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The mini-rally that began in Europe yesterday, remains in place this morning, with the currencies trading a very tight range all day yesterday. There was one brief bump higher about midday, but that didn’t last long… The reason for the “bump” was news from France that they were all set to roll the maturities of Greek debt… You can only imagine the joke I came up with when hearing that the French were the first to “roll over the maturities”… All in fun, no one was hurt, and no animals were used in the story!
[Read more...]Greece Heads Toward Austerity?
June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It’s a semi-Risk Off Day today, so far that is… The Greek Confidence Vote went as thought… The budget that included austerity measures was passed, and also as expected, the Greek people protested… Just another day in the Eurozone “South”… One would think that this would be a cause to rally for the euro, being a “relief” and all… But I think that rally was already priced in yesterday, when the single unit rose to 1.44, then fell to 1.4346, and then back to 1.44, and now 1.4375…
[Read more...]A Greek Confidence Vote Today
June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Front and center this morning, there are more rumblings from anybody with a “title” in the Eurozone, about Greece… But the euro (EUR) isn’t paying attention, and yesterday, in the face of Greece being told they had to produce a budget full of spending cuts, the euro rallied… And continued that rally overnight. I had a dear reader ask me yesterday why I thought the euro was rallying with the latest news from Greece… I said… “Well, maybe traders are growing tired of all this back and forth with Greece.” Yes, maybe, just maybe, traders have decided to wait until a plan either has been implemented, or not, and deal with the currencies appropriately at that time…
[Read more...]Greek Protesters Rage Against Austerity Measures
June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
So the shit’s hitting the fan in Greece. Again. There’s a general strike today… the third one in 2011.
Cops in Athens unloaded tear gas on protesters who tried to surround the Parliament building. The vain attempt to keep members from gathering to vote on more “austerity measures” failed. Austerity measures are a condition of the next eurozone bailout.
[Read more...]
Why Government Promises Aren’t What They Used to Be
The Dow dropped 297 points yesterday. October may have been the best month for stocks in 37 years. But November could be the worst.
Gold fell a little yesterday, too, down $13. Oil is still over $90.
The newspapers tell us that investors are disappointed over the European deal. They thought they had that problem wrapped up with a bow. Apparently not…
[Read more...]