Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Friday, November 18, 2011
Rising Government Bond Yields Push Eurozone Debt Crisis to the Precipice of Collapse / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
David Zeiler writes: Rising government bond rates are making it increasingly costly for several key Eurozone nations to borrow money, stoking fears that the sovereign debt crisis has reached a critical stage.
Yields on 10-year Spanish Treasury bonds rose to 6.8% during yesterday's (Thursday's) auction - uncomfortably close to the 7% level at which many experts feel is unsustainable. When the 10-year bond yields of Portugal, Ireland, and Greece passed 7%, each was forced to seek a bailout.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Spain Debt Crisis Bailout Imminent as Spanish Bond Auction Hits 6.975% Yield on 10-Year Debt / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
The ECB stepped into the fray once again today but the the results of the Spanish debt auction today speak for themselves. The rate on 10-year bonds is close to touching the 7% mark.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Credit Storm Batters Europe / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
So, how bad will the EU credit crunch get?
Credit conditions in the eurozone continue to deteriorate while yields on French, Spanish, Belgian and Italian bonds move higher. Italy’s 10-year yield increased 19 basis points to 6.89 percent on Tuesday, just a stone’s throw from the “unsustainable” 7 percent. French debt is also under increasing pressure. The spread between France’s 10-year debt and German bund hit a new high on Tuesday, widening by 174 basis points. If yields continue to rise, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi will be forced to either expand his bond buying program (Securities Markets Programme) or watch while defaulting sovereigns domino through the south taking most of the EU banking system along with them.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
European Bond Traders Are Going For the Sovereign Debt Jugular / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: If you look at the crisis in Europe, the key questions to ask are clear: Will this crisis continue to spread? And will the United States get singed by the fallout?
In both cases, the answer is a very clear "Yes."
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
U.S. Debt Reality Check / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Tic, Tac, Toe, Three Clowns in a Row
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Europe's 'time is running out fast', Why the ECB hasn't acted yet / Interest-Rates / Euro-Zone
Willem Buiter, Citigroup's Chief Economist, spoke with Bloomberg Television's Tom Keene today about the crisis in Europe.
Buiter said that "time is running out fast" and that "it could be weeks, it could be days, before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging down the European banking system and North America with it."
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
ECB Slows Italy Debt Crisis Meltdown, but No End in Sight / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
The European Central Bank admitted earlier today that it had taken part in asset purchases intended to give lift to the Italian debt markets. Through the week ending November 4, the ECB says it spent $13.1 billion to push down Italian yields against other European governments.
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Monday, November 14, 2011
The Coming Global Systemic Collapse and its Implications​ / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
The European Union’s failure to solved Greeks and now Italy’s debt crisis is sending shockwaves through the financial, currencies, equities and derivatives markets.
Europe needs to increase its bailout fund in the EFSF to more than €1 trillion by next year when waves of Eurozone debts matures. Among them are Italy €307 billion (19.3% of GDP, Germany €273 billion (10.6% of GDP), France €240 billion (12% of GDP) and Spain €132 billion (12.2% of GDP). This is excluding new debts to be issued to fund its deficits spending and bank bailouts. Europe is now in between a rock and a hard place because it can start printing money but the ECB treaty prevented it from doing so.
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Monday, November 14, 2011
How Do we Solve the Eurozone Crisis, Where Is the ECB Printing Press? / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Europe remains the focus of markets, and rightly so. But the picture is not as clear as one would like. Different analysts point to different problems – if only this one problem could be solved, then all this would go away, they tend to say. Sadly, it is not one problem but three that must be solved, and none of them is easy. In today’s letter I try and offer a basic primer on the problems facing Europe. My challenge to myself is to do it in a short piece rather than the book-length tome it could easily become. Thus, in the pursuit of brevity, we will not be as in-depth as usual, but I think it helps us to step back a few feet and look at the larger picture before we focus on minutiae.
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Sunday, November 13, 2011
Euro-Zone: Up the Creek without a Helicopter and Paralyzed By Hyper-Inflation Phobia / Interest-Rates / Euro-Zone
I don’t know why but when I watch the drama of the Euro crisis unfold my mind wanders to a scene in “Nashville” about a “country girl” who got a gig to jump out of a cake at a function, and didn’t quite understand what was supposed to happen next. I can’t help thinking that at some point in this whole sad scenario someone will have to stand naked.
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Friday, November 11, 2011
Charting Euro Macro, Yields and LIBOR Interest Rate Spreads / Interest-Rates / ECB Interest Rates
Wednesday's 2% decline in EURUSD was the only 3rd of such magnitude over the past 3 years. There have been five of + or 2% in the last 3 years, 2 of which occurred last month; (-2% Oct 31 after referendum announcement and +2% on Oct 27 after the EFSF/Troika/recap deal). Yesterdays 13% surge in EURUSD 1-month volatility typified the broadening rise in the currency's volatility as of late.
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Friday, November 11, 2011
World has Major Funding Gap, IMF Begs Russia and China for Money / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
Saxo bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen pinged me with an interesting set of comments regarding Italian interest rates....
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Our estimation shows that on the 2012 interest payment alone Italy now needs to find additional 10 billion EUR to pay for the rise in interest rates.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Italy the One Country That Could Destroy the Eurozone / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Martin Hutchinson writes: It's been a rough few weeks for the Eurozone.
Portugal is still in trouble, Spain will be back on the coals after its Nov. 20 election, and if I were a bond trader, I would be shorting Belgium, which has serious deficit and debt problems, runs for months at a time without a government and is in some danger of splitting apart into its French and Flemish bits.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Too-Big-To-Save Italy Totters on Debt Crisis Cliff / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
David Zeiler writes: With its 10-year bond yields nearing 7%, Italy's debt is becoming a burden it will no longer be able to handle as it follows the same path as Portugal, Ireland and Greece.
However, Italy's economy - seven times larger than Greece's, nine times larger than Portugal's and 10 times larger than Ireland's - is too big for the Eurozone to rescue.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Taxpayers in Revolt, State Bankster System in Europe is Collapsing, Next Stop USA / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
Think of Europe's finances as a gigantic liquor supply system. There is a system of profit-seeking taverns (commercial banks). There is a clientele (sovereign states). Finally, there is a distiller (the European Central Bank).
The governments have been on a bender like none seen in modern times, especially those governments in sunny climates, plus Ireland, which has always known how to have a party. They all ran up their tab with their bartenders at pubs throughout the continent. It looked like the party would go on forever. It didn't.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Italy Enters Debt Crisis High Bond Yield Danger Zone? / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
1. Equity markets euphoria notwithstanding, Italy could yet drag the Eurozone and world financial markets into a new and formidable out-of-control crisis;
2. Even if Berlusconi goes, it is unlikely that any parliamentary consensus will emerge in the short term to cut Italy's massive debt and boost growth;
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Greek Half Debt Default Leaves Trillion Dollar Market in Limbo / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
The European Debt Crisis seems to have found resolution. Those holding Greek securities will have to tolerate a one-half reduction in the value of their securities, essentially allowing Greece to halve its current debt overnight. Questions linger about Greece’s ability to pay, and some are suggesting that the change might not produce immediate benefits; a write down will just encourage investors to demand greater returns when new securities come on the market.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011
The Banks That Swallowed Europe, Western Civilization Built on Debt / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Long-time readers will be familiar with Michael Lewitt, one of my favorite thinkers and analysts. He has gone off on his own to write his letter, and I am encouraging him to write even more. I call Michael a thinker because he really does. He reads a lot of thought-provoking tomes and then thinks about them. And then writes, making his readers think. The world needs more Michael Lewitts.
Today, he roams the world, commenting as he goes, starting of course with Europe. I have permission to use the first half of this most recent letter as today’s Outside the Box, leaving off the investment recommendations that he shares with his subscribers. If you are interested you can subscribe at www.thecreditstrategist.com.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011
U.S. Bank Lending Remains Restrictive / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
The Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Survey shows that fewer banks eased standards on lending to large and middle-market firms (Made up of firms reporting $50 million and over in annual sales) during the third quarter compared with prior surveys (see Chart 1).
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011
What Does Wave Theory Say About U.S. Treasuries? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
This article is Part 3 of a 3-part interview series with Glenn Neely, founder and president of NEoWave Institute. In these 3 interviews, conducted by blogger Bud Fox, Glenn Neely looks ahead at 3 specific trading markets (Euro, Gold, and Treasuries) through the lens of Wave structure and explores what Wave theory tells us about the next 5-10 years.
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