Roundups &
Commentary
News – Between
The Hedges
Markets – Between
The Hedges
Recap – Global Macro Trading
The Closer – alphaville / FT
Roundup – Kiron
Sarkar / The Big Picture
Tomorrow’s Tape – WSJ
US: Gold And
Stocks Recouple As VIX And Credit Shrug – ZH
Musings on the US’ silence in the face of Japan’s dramatic policy maneuvers.
EUROPE
Even the good news is bad news – Free exchange
/ The Economist
The good
news, in other words, is that the euro-zone economy continues to shrink, albeit
at a slower pace.
European
leaders have started a discussion on German-inspired “contracts for
competitiveness and growth”. To implement structural reforms in eurozone member
states, the European Commission has proposed to negotiate with selected
countries contracts underpinned by financial support. The idea, to put it
bluntly, is to bribe reluctant governments into economic change.
On January
31, the Latvian parliament gave final passage to a law applying for adoption of
the euro. The vote was 52 to 40. The Latvian government will now submit an
application to the European Union in February, and the European Commission will
then prepare a report assessing whether Latvia is ready to join
Equities - Is European optimism far-fetched? – Macronomics
European
optimism is far-fetched if one looks at the EU earnings divergence from GDP growth.
ECB
Euro Gains New Currency for ECB Chief – WSJ
Draghi will
have a chance Thursday to address growing concerns by some euro-zone
politicians that the euro is becoming too strong and could threaten the bloc's
nascent recovery.
Hollande
broke with Germany’s hands-off policy on exchange
rates and set up a potential clash with the ECB by saying the euro area has to
use the currency as an export-promoting tool just like the U.S. and China.
ITALY
Silvio Berlusconi’s broken tax promises – Data
/ FT
Italians
face among the highest tax burdens in the OECD countries combined with high
energy prices and public services. It’s little surprise that promises to
alleviate the amount of money taken from Italians for public services that are
not always provided have a strong appeal to the electorate. But Berlusconi has
failed to keep his tax promises so far, and there are no reasons to think it
will be different this time.
http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2013/02/italy-foreign-policy-and-the-election/
Pier Luigi
Bersani, who according to opinion polls could be Italy's next prime minister,
went to Berlin Tuesday to call for closer European integration, saying that
"[budget] realism too often defeats common sense" in the region's
negotiations about its own future.
SPAIN
It should
have been a glorious event for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy: a
tête-à-tête with German Chancellor Angela Merkel… But instead, Spanish stocks
took a nosedive. Yields jumped. And the press conference turned into a slugfest
about the corruption scandal in Spain.
UNITED STATES
The full US government complaint against
Standard & Poor’s:
S&P killer, qu’est-ce que c’est? – alphaville
/ FT
BUDGET
FORECAST
The CBO's new budget outlook, in six charts – Wonkblog
/ WP
The
Congressional Budget Office has just released its new budget outlook (pdf) for 2013 to 2022. Here
are six big takeaways, with charts.
Fed Won’t Have Profit to Send to Treasury in
2018, CBO Projects –
WSJ
The CBO
projected that the Fed will suspend its remittances to the U.S. Treasury in
2018 as the economy improves and rising interest rates produce capital losses
on the Fed’s huge bond portfolio.
CBO Releases Latest Budget Forecast: Hilarity
Ensues – ZH
Projection vs. Reality: What CBO Saw in 2003 – WSJ
Three ways CBO expects health spending to
change – Wonkblog
/ WP
CBO Report Animates Deficit Debate – WSJ
The sequestration cuts and the state of the
states – alphaville
/ FT
SERVICE
ISM
Declines,
Beats Modestly As New Orders Drop – ZH
Indicates
expansion in January – Calculated
Risk
Slightly
Better Than Expected – Bespoke
ASIA
The idea of
invoking Japan, of all places, to justify fears
that stimulus leads to inflation or asset bubbles is just bizarre.
All’s fair in love and currency wars – alphaville
/ FT
Japan’s Masaaki Shirakawa gave notice on
Tuesday that he would be leaving his post as governor of the Japanese central
bank on March 19, three weeks earlier than slated. Can we blame Shirakawa? His
departure now coincides with that of two deputy BoJ governors who would be
replaced by Abe-nominations (we resisted the urge to go for ‘Abominations’; it
wasn’t easy.).
OTHER
The FISH that broke the camel's back? – TradingFloor
Some significant January month-end fix orders set the
tone for some ‘exuberant’ moves (or extensions) at the start of February.
However, there has also been a distinct pick up in two-way volatility in the
last couple of sessions and as I see things, that is very significant.
IN FINNISH
"Tuhannet saavat
18370 e/kk" - Eurokraatit lakkoilevat palkkansa vuoksi – TE
EU puolustaa
byrokraattiensa palkkaa - kukaan ei tienaa yli 25000 e/kk – TE