EUROPE
Brussels blog
round-up for 18 – 24 May – Europp
/ LSE
Little movement on tax evasion, an olive oil u-turn and are there too
many European Commissioners?
The euro crisis: The
sleepwalkers – The
Economist
And if euro-zone leaders stumble on? Like Japan, Europe will be under a
shadow for years to come. The cost will be measured in disillusion, blighted
communities and wasted lives. Unlike Japan, though, the euro zone is not
cohesive. For as long as stagnation and recession tear at democracy, the euro zone
risks a fatal popular rejection.
Speech Vítor
Constâncio: Implications of the SSM on the ESFS – ECB
Europe Opens $80
Trillion Shadow Banking Pandora's Box – ZH
Will seek to collapse repo "collateral chains"
Press release TARGET
2012 Annual Report – ECB
Publication TARGET
Annual Report 2012 – ECB
(pdf)
Increase in volume and value of payments processed
PIIGS
Cyprus bank accuses
troika of misleading EU ministers – euobserver
Cyprus & the
troika: off to a rocky start – Brussels
blog / FT
Italy's Grillo seeks
EU membership referendum – euobserver
Euro-Zone Bonds Move
Back into Lockstep – WSJ
Government bonds in the euro zone are increasingly shadowing each
others’ movements, in the latest sign the woes of the single currency are
fading from the forefront of investors’ minds.
Discussion in Spain
on Leaving the Euro; Euro Exit Manifest – Mish’s
The Spanish economy:
On being propped up – The
Economist
Spain’s pain likely to continue despite some promising reforms
Spanish unemployment:
Indignant, undignified – The
Economist
DEBATE: ROGOFF & KEYNESIANS
Europe’s Lost
Keynesians – Project
Syndicate
Kenneth Rogoff: There is no magic Keynesian bullet for the eurozone’s
woes.
Ken Rogoff: For
Europe, Debt Relief for the Periphery, Not Fiscal Expansion at the Core – Delong
Europe Needs
Structural Change – WSJ
Brad DeLong tries to find nice things to say about Ken Rogoff’s latest.
But he tries too hard.
Open letter to
Krugman – CarmenReinhart
UNITED STATES
Fed’s Bullard: ECB May Have to Consider New
Stimulus Measures – WSJ
The risk of a
disorderly breakup of the euro zone has diminished in the past year but the ECB
may need to consider new stimulus measures if the prospects for the 17-nation
economy don't improve, a top Fed official said.
The Markets and the
Fed’s Punch Bowl – WSJ
Parsing the Federal
Reserve – Free
exchange / The Economist
Great Graphic: Focus on US Equities – Marc
to Market
Weekend Sentiment
Summary – The
Short Side of the Long
DURABLE
GOODS
Analysis: Not All Good
News in Durables Report – WSJ
Advance Report on
Durable Goods – US Census
Bureau (pdf)
Hard to See Pattern in
Durables Goods Report – WSJ
Durable Goods Orders
increased 3.3% in April – Calculated
Risk
Durable Orders Glass
Half Empty—Still – Marc
to Market
Durable Goods Rise
More Than Expected In April – The
Capital Spectator
Spot The Trend In US
Durable Goods And CapEx Spending – ZH
Excluding aircraft down 1.5 percent in April, weaker than expected – Handelsbanken
ASIA
BNP Warns On Japanese
Repression: Echoes Of The 1940s Fed – ZH
But a much bigger problem is Japan’s exploding public debt. With the
debt already the largest of the developed nations, it could snowball out of
control if an upturn in interest rates causes interest payments to escalate.
So, even if 2% inflation is achieved, the BoJ’s zero-rate policy and massive
JGB purchases will have to continue until the debt is made more manageable.
Japan’s Swinging
Bonds - A Future Economic Crisis – WSJ
Monetary policy is
not interest rate policy - Japanese version – Worthwhile
Nikkei Downtrend
(1982-Present) – The
Big Picture
Abenomics 101 - The
15 Most Frequently Asked Questions – ZH
OTHER
IMF Searches Soul,
Blames Europe – WSJ
In the second of its mea culpas, the IMF examines past debt
restructurings and what could be improved in the future.
The IMF Revisits
Sovereign Debt Restructuring, Not the SDRM – PIIE
Living in Terror of
Dead Economists – fsaraceno
Book Bits | 5.25.13 – The
Capital Spectator
The banking crisis as
a giant carry trade gone wrong – voxeu.org
A pernicious aspect of the Eurozone crisis is the ‘doom loop’ linking
European banks and governments. This column argues that poor European policy
choices in the wake of the 2008 Global Crisis worsened the problem. Rather than
being forcefully recapitalising as in the US and UK, many Eurozone banks were
left undercapitalised and free to gamble for redemption. In what may be the
greatest carry trade ever, they borrowed cheap, first in short-term debt
markets and then from the ECB, to invest in high-yield but risky sovereign
debt. Substantial bank recapitalisations against sovereign-bond losses is the
way forward.
How a Big-Bank
Failure Could Unfold – Economix
/ NYT
Secrets From The Sexist Pitchbook Of One Of
Wall Street’s More Notorious Firms – Buzzfeed
BuzzFeed has obtained
the “Golden Pitchbook” used by top brokers at John Thomas Financial. In its
pages: How cold-calling brokers pressure prospects to buy stocks from the
troubled firm.