Stephen
King, chief economist of HSBC on Twitter:
I once told some Bavarian investors that they were responsible for the €zone crisis. They looked at me in stunned disbelief! It's amazing to think that creditors believe they are in no way responsible for the €zone crisis.Germans struggle to understand that a large BoP surplus means their savings are used to acquire foreign rather than domestic assets and that those foreign assets may, at times, offer the wrong mix of risk & reward. Creditors and debtors [are] two sides of same coin.The history of debt crises suggests that what begins as a crisis for the debtors eventually becomes a crisis for the creditors. When creditors realise debtors can't repay, the creditors will be worse off. How? Choose from restructuring, bailout, default, devaluation.
My comment to George Magnus, ex-chief economist of UBS
The fathers of the European monetary union thought that building a monetary union would later lead to it becoming an optimal currency area. And that building a monetary union would later lead to a political union after a series of crises.
Previously
on MoreLiver’s:
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EUROPE
The EU
new fiscal flexibility guidelines: An assessment – voxeu
New
guidelines on Stability and Growth Pact do not change the existing rules, but
work to improve transparency, encourage fiscal discipline, and underline that
fiscal adjustments should vary based on the circumstances a country finds
itself to be in. But by operating within to the existing rules, the new
guidelines conform to austerity bias and complexity of implementation.
The
Eurozone Needs More than QE – Project
Syndicate
Martin
Feldstein: Although the European Central Bank has launched a larger-than-expected
program of quantitative easing, even its advocates fear that it may not be
enough to boost real incomes, reduce unemployment, and lower governments’ debt-to-GDP ratios. They are right to be afraid.
Restructure
EU banks to facilitate resolution – voxeu
Systemically
important banks should reorganise into a ‘holding company’ structure, where the
parent company holds unsecured term debt sufficient to cover losses at its
operating financial subsidiaries. This would facilitate a ‘single point of
entry’ resolution procedure, minimising the risk of creditor runs and
destructive ring-fencing by national regulators.
Denmark:
Central bank not finished cutting – Danske
Bank
Why did
the Swiss franc spike? Blame the locals – FT
Bond buying
+ improving economy = potential bonanza for markets
GREECE
Yanis
Varoufakis – Tyler
Cowen
Greece says
No to EU statement on Russia – euobserver
Greeks
rebuff EU call for more Russia sanctions – FT
Why Greece
needs debt relief – Philippe
Legrain
Greek PM
Tsipras names anti-austerity cabinet, port sale halted – Reuters
George
Magnus: Can Syriza get what it wants from Brussels? – Prospect
Martin
Wolf: Greek debt and a default of statesmanship – FT
Greek
Bonds, Stocks Decline as New Government Takes Charge – BB
Greek
Stocks Crash, Bonds Plummet, Banks Have Worst Day Ever – ZH
The Greek
Economy: Which Way Forward? – CEPR
Greek
Credit Risk Spikes, Default Probability Tops 70% - ZH
Take the
money and run – The Economist
Thinking
About the New Greek Crisis – Krugman
/ NYT
UNITED STATES
FEDERAL RESERVE
While We
Wait For Yet Another FOMC Statement... – Tim
Duy
Fed
Decision Day Guide: From Rate Patience to Too-Low Inflation – BB
What to
Watch at This Week’s Fed Meeting – WSJ
Unchanged
Fed statement and EURUSD ping-pong? – TradingFloor
Parsing the
Fed: How the Statement Changed – WSJ
REGULARS
Daily
Central Banks – WSJ
Hilsenrath’s
Take: China’s Local Government Debt Could Be Source of Trouble * Hard Choices
on Easy Money Lie Ahead for Fed Chief * What to Watch at This Week’s Fed
Meeting * Singapore Pulls Trigger in Deflation Fight * Swiss to Compensate
Workers Hurt by Franc Strength
Daily
Macro – WSJ
Currency
wars are the name of the game. Singapore’s central bank is just the latest to
focus on foreign exchange as a policy tool in a time of falling inflation and
weakening growth. With everyone seemingly looking to cut their exchange rates,
upward pressure builds on the dollar, especially with the Federal Reserve now
on a tightening bias.
Danske
Daily – Danske
Bank
Eye-Opener – Nordea
Fed to
stick to mid-2015 hike scenario * Unchanged Fed message to push Treasury yields
up * USD loses steam on data disappointments
European
Developments Steal Spotlight from Today's Fed Statement – Marc
to Market
Daily
Shot – TradingFloor
Greece
might blame Germany for its indebtness * Isolating Russia could have severe
effects for both sides * Strong US Dollar harms US exporters
US Open – ZH
All Eyes On
Yellen Who Better Not Disappoint
FX
Update – TradingFloor
The USD
rally has paused ahead of today’s FOMC meeting, and it won’t take much for the
new monetary policy statement to surprise on the hawkish side. Also, RBNZ up
shortly after the FOMC.
From the
floor – TradingFloor
The big
story from the floor today is the looming Federal Open Market Committee
meeting, but there remain a few other developments that are stealing some of
its thunder. One of these, of course, is Apple's record-setting fourth-quarter,
which saw the company beat 100 analysts' expectations.
OTHER
EM FX: I
see fire – Nordea
Most EM
currencies except the RUB have stabilised a bit during January. Commodity
currencies have had some support from a stabilisation of oil prices in the
second half of January, while most European EM currencies have benefitted from
the ECB’s QE announcement.
Weekly
Bond Update: The Fed's the only hawk left – TradingFloor
Michael
Boye: ECB joins the monetary easing crowd * Rate surprises from a raft of
central banks * US October rate hike looks premature to us
FINNISH
Aamukatsaus – Nordea
Fed
ehtii ennen Englannin keskuspankkia | Tänään saadaan Saksan ja Ranskan
kuluttajien luottamusindeksit | USA:n kestotavaratilaukset heikkenivät
joulukuussa
Velka-armahdus
loi Saksan talousihmeen – Jan
Hurri / TalSa
Saksan
sodanjälkeinen talousihme onnistui pitkälti samoilla keinoilla, joita Kreikan
vaalit voittanut Syriza-puolue haluaa Kreikan avuksi. Maailmansodan hävittyään
Saksa sai kontolleen jättimäiset sotavelat, mutta sittemmin se sai
voittajavaltioilta suuren osan veloistaan anteeksi ja jättimäisen
investointiohjelman kaupan päälle.
EK-PANEELI
Keskustan
viisi tavoitetta Suomelle – Keskusta
Juha
Sipilä: Suomen tilanteen oikaisemiseksi tarvitaan kymmenen vuotta – Verkkouutiset
Sipilä
vaatii 2 miljardin säästöjä - Stubb: Ei riitä – IL
Stubb:
Kaikkien tuloluokkien veroja laskettava – HS
Stubb
jäi EK:n puoluejohtajapaneelissa yksin konsensuskritiikissä – YLE
Häkämies:
Työn verotus Suomessa Ruotsia kireämpää monissa tuloluokissa – Verkkouutiset
Stubb
keskustalle: Hyviä ehdotuksia, mutta miten ne rahoitetaan? – Verkkouutiset
Olli
Immonen: Keskustan ehdotus palkkakilpailua maahanmuuttajien kanssa
– Verkkouutiset
Neljän
suuren tentti: Veropolitiikka erottaa pääministeriehdokkaita – Verkkouutiset
KREIKKA
Pelaako
Putin Kreikka-kortin EU:ta vastaan? – IS
Syrizan
talouspolitiikka – Alusta!
Mitä
Syrizan onnistuminen tarkoittaa? – Politiikasta
TILASTOT
Vanhat
asunnot halpenivat koko maassa – TalSa
Osakeasuntojen hinnat laskivat neljännellä
vuosineljänneksellä – Tilastokeskus
Konkurssien määrä väheni 5,7 prosenttia vuonna 2014 – Tilastokeskus