February 15th, 2012
Dick Bove has the (very short) answer to what’s going on with Greece
His latest missive, in its entirety (less all the regulatory guff):
Tongue in Cheek
Paying Down the Greek Debt
A client suggested to me that the Greeks have become so expert at manipulating the U.S.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- The Volcker Rule’s unusual critics.
- Economic data warms hearts, but doesn’t change minds.
- Greece is on pace for the worst recession in modern history.
- Where
FOMC minutes for the Jan 24-25, 2012 meeting
A few items to note as we come across them:
1) Recall that at the end of the meeting, the Fed released a new “Statement of Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy”, making explicit its 2 per cent inflation target.
What to look for in the FOMC minutes
The FOMC minutes will be released in just a few minutes (2pm EST).
There will be a lot of parsing given the importance of the last meeting (first time publishing projections for the fed funds rates,
Raisin’ Repo
(Chart via RBC.)
There’s a normal seasonal rise in Treasury bill supply at this time of year, usually lasting through to about April, but it typically doesn’t produce such a large upward push on General Collateral repo rates.
The Japanese liquidity trap, revisited
If anyone is an expert on the unintended effects of quantitative easing, it’s the Bank of Japan.
In fact, one might say, what the Fed, ECB, BoE are facing today, the BoJ has already faced. What’s more,
Bailout 1.3 (maybe)
It seems instructive to filter the direct quotes uttered by the various ‘officials briefed on preparations’ in this Reuters story on the promised second Greek bailout being delayed….
“There are proposals to delay the Greek package or to split it,
A fate worse than a hard landing for China
What IS a hard landing in China?
Well, BAML’s latest survey of fund managers defines it as less than 7 per cent growth. And incidentally, only 8 per cent of those surveyed believe it will happen, half the percentage of the November survey.
Is QE working?, asks the Bank of England
Linda Yueh of Bloomberg TV just asked a very sharp question of Bank of England governor Mervyn King at Wednesday’s Inflation Report press conference, at pixel time. If the UK’s money supply is contracting,
Markets Live transcript 15 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:04 on 15 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT Izabella Kaminska PMMorning PMWelcome to Markets LIve
Greek bond accounting, encore encore encore
The real headline news in BNP Paribas’ end-2011 results is two figures, really. US dollar asset funding down by 30.5 per cent since June 2011, holdings of eurozone sovereign debt down by 23 per cent over the same period.
The hedgies’ tool of choice
The letter.
From an old New Yorker story on Daniel Loeb:
Loeb’s favored device is the scolding letter, formally addressed, publicly released, and ruthlessly frank in its assessments of managerial competence.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- The LTRO effect on Target2 imbalances.
- HFT hits the energy complex.
- Eurozone, the corporate cash collection effect.
- Roubini and Chovanec chat China.
- Krugman on man who made bond investing sort of sexy.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Much too much ado about Greece
Why does Greece – a country with little more than 2 per cent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product – cause such headaches? asks the FT’s chief economics commentator.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
– German economy shrinks less than forecast – story
– Profits halve for BNP Paribas in Q4 – Bloomberg
– China (again) promises to invest in eurozone bailout funds — Bloomberg
– Margins squeezed at Thorntons – statement
Corporate: