Europe, US, Asia - and some Finnish-language stuff as well. Big news is still Bank of Japan,
Previously on MoreLiver’s:
Special: US Employment Report (updated)
Special: ECB Watch (updated)
Special: Bailout of Cyprus (updated)
A turbulent Easter for
Cyprus, Iceland’s crowd-sourced constitution canned, and is
the Eurogroup opaque?
The ECB’s actual
mandate – a reminder – Social
Europe
Price stability is currently assured (if anything there is a risk of
deflation) and so the ECB must, under the Treaty, do all it can to achieve
these goals for as long as the situation of there being no threat to price
stability prevails. There is thus a clear current requirement to pursue as
expansionary monetary policies as possible. It is not sufficient to say that
the stance is “accommodative”.
Charlemagne: Banking
disunion – The
Economist
FANG
Germany's Social Democrats
had hoped that François Hollande's victory last spring would provide them with
some momentum. But Friday's visit to Paris by SPD candidate
Peer Steinbrück has highlighted the difficulties facing the European left. A
renaissance this election year seems unlikely.
Tax Scandal: Ex
Budget Minister's Failings Threaten French Government – Spiegel
Former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac shocked France this week by
admitting to tax evasion. The scandal represents a potential disaster for the
struggling Socialist government and could increase pressure from the public and
the political opposition against President François Hollande.
'Secrecy-Cloaked
Companies': Deutsche Bank Criticized for Offshore Operations – Spiegel
As part of an international reporting project on offshore companies and
trusts, two German newspapers are reporting that Deutsche Bank helped to
establish some 300 such entities through its operations in Singapore. The news
isn't entirely new, but criticism of the company is growing.
German officials are demanding details on hundreds of alleged tax cheats
uncovered by the "Offshore Leaks" report this week. With tighter laws
in place, anxious violators probably won't get off as easy as before.
PIIGS
Bridgewater Asks "Could Italy Blow Up The Euro?" – ZH
Portugal's constitutional
court on Friday rejected four out of nine contested austerity measures in this
year's budget in a ruling that deals a blow to government finances but is
unlikely to derail reforms two years after the country's bailout.
Abe’s European
spring break – MacroScope
/ Reuters
Japan stimulus sends euro
zone yields to record lows
Trends behind
declining LTRO balances – Sober
Look
Italy overtakes Spain as the largest LTRO
borrower
UNITED STATES
No Reason to Panic –
Yet
– dshort
The S&P 500 Index continues to trend within three bullish trend channels of varying degree.
The S&P 500 Index continues to trend within three bullish trend channels of varying degree.
Trade Deficit in U.S. Unexpectedly Narrows on
Oil Imports – BB
Trade Deficit declined in February to $43
Billion – Calculated
Risk
ASIA
NORTH KOREA
North Korean tensions:
Inside the cult of Kim – The
Economist
North Korea's most recent
irrational behavior has made clear the government's indifference to sanctions.
Some believe China is the only country
that can talk Pyongyang into toning down its
rhetoric. In reality the United States can do much more to
calm the situation.
JAPAN
Kuroda’s move will
unleash copycat loosening – The A-List / FT
With the announcement by Haruhiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan’s new
governor, of the doubling of the monetary base within the next two years at
most, the Japanese authorities committed to do “whatever it takes” to achieve
their newly assigned objective — an inflation rate of 2 per cent. Two questions
should be raised. First, why such a drastic step up in monetary expansion?
Second, will it work?
Generate inflation and
consumers will start spending, business confidence will improve and growth will
resume. This will reduce the government's annual deficit and reduce the real
value of the debt over time. Problem solved. But what about investors?
Abenomics Takes Off: Can Japan
Un-Doom Itself? – The
Atlantic
14 years later, Japan
is finally taking Ben Bernanke's advice
The Promise of Abenomics – Project
Syndicate
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is doing what many economists have been calling for
in the US and Europe: a comprehensive program entailing monetary, fiscal, and
structural policies. As many Japanese rightly sense, Abenomics, with its focus
on monetary, fiscal, and structural policies, can only help the country’s
recovery.
Those who say Japan has been muddling
through just fine in permanent deflation with an overvalued yen are indeed
"macro-tourists". No nation can allow itself to atrophy in this way.
The surprise is that it took Japan so long to wake up.
OTHER
Interactive: Stash
Your Cash – ICIJ
How to move your funds off-shore.
Business Cycle Monitor: Recovery moderating – Danske
Bank (pdf)
This brave new world – alphaville
/ FT
Cyprus may not be a template but as Pawel Morski said, the actual template is
probably not going to look all that different.
Capital controls: Cash
cowed –
The
Economist
Buttonwood: Where did
all the money go? – The
Economist
A world of cheap
money –
The
Economist
Six years of low interest rates in search of some growth
Economic policy: A
world of cheap money – The
Economist
The Federal Reserve is making a better job of it than the European
Central Bank
IN FINNISH
Keskuspankit,
rahapolitiikka ja markkinamonetarismi – Thomas
Brand / Nordnet blogi
Asuntolainaan
ei kattoa, Fiva pettyi, kiinteistöala ilahtui – MTV3
Saksa
sen kun porskuttaa – Jussi
Tuormaa / TalSa
Heikot sortuu elontiellä, mutta Saksa sen kun
porskuttaa… Miksi juuri tämä maa pärjää nykyisessä suhdannetilanteessa?
Korkman
osinkoverotuksen lopputuloksesta: Eurokriisikin alkaa tuntua helpolta asialta – YLE
Verovalmistelussa voisi nojautua selkeämmin
virkamiehiin. Silloin riskit valuvioista voitaisiin välttää, arvioi
Aalto-yliopiston professori Sixten Korkman.
Saksalla
on kokemusta siitä kuinka hoidetaan liiallinen velka ja valuutan yliarvostus
ilman devalvointia – tyhmyri
EK:n
Kokkila mukana pikavippibisneksessä – Kaleva