Daily Archives: November 22, 2010

From FT.com November 22, 2010

Greece is poised to accept tough conditions, including widespread job cuts and labour market reforms, in order to secure the third and fourth loan tranches of its €110bn bail-out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. George Papaconstantinou, finance minister, said on Monday the socialist government tried “to preserve the country’s interests as best we could,” in discussions with the “troika” – representatives of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the Fund.

The troika’s latest monitoring mission came amid rising concern in Athens that a future transfer might be blocked – a move that could trigger an immediate default and a disorderly restructuring of Greece’s €340bn sovereign debt. “It’s a difficult negotiation every time . . . bearing in mind that the next loan tranche is at risk,” Mr Papaconstantinou said. Read more

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Posted in European Central Bank |

Multi-notch downgrade likely for Ireland

November 22, 2010 4:52 pm by Emma Saunders

Moody’s isn’t going to get caught out this time. The ratings agency has said today that its review of Irish sovereign debt is likely to end in a multi-notch downgrade. If we take “multi” to mean three or more, the current Aa2 rating will probably end up below those of S&P and Fitch.

Curious timing. All three agencies have stayed mute about Ireland in recent weeks. S&P and Fitch are yet to say anything and Moody’s has waited for the announcement of the aid package.

Perhaps there were burnt fingers over Greece. In the Spring, S&P and Fitch downgraded Greece as market fears intensified, adding to the commotion and leaving Moody’s in a very awkward place (had they downgraded Greece, they might single-handedly have disqualified Greek assets from being accepted as collateral at the ECB).

Rating agencies were heavily criticised for aggravating matters in April and May, Read more

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Posted in Uncategorized |

Would €90bn be enough for Ireland?

November 22, 2010 1:58 pm by Emma Saunders

Felix Salmon asks whether €90bn will be enough for Ireland. By his methodology, he is right to ask. He assumes the status quo will continue, and that the bail-out funds will be all that Ireland can access.

Ireland’s annual budget deficit is €19bn and this is a three-year plan, so that’s €57bn, he argues. Let’s call it €60bn. That leaves €30bn for the banks, by this thinking. The black hole in commercial real estate is valued at €20-25bn alone, he says. And that’s before we consider residential mortgages.

But this isn’t Argentina. Ireland is not defaulting on its debt: it is choosing not to raise money in the markets at punitive rates. There’s no reason why it couldn’t approach markets in June next year, when the state next needs to auction debt.

In addition to raising money in the markets, Ireland will be raising more in taxes and spending less. Read more

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Posted in European Central Bank |

Economics news headlines

November 22, 2010 1:53 pm by Emma Saunders

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Posted in Uncategorized |

Fed expected to slash forecasts tomorrow

November 22, 2010 11:25 am by Emma Saunders

Latest Fed projections for the US economy are expected to have worsened considerably from last quarter. Robin suggests the 2011 growth forecast, due for release tomorrow, will fall to 3-3.5 per cent for next year. Unemployment might rise above 8 per cent in 2012, with long-term unemployment rising by more than a percentage point to 6 per cent. Below is a summary of recent projections with Robin’s figures added to the November row:

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Posted in Federal Reserve |
From FT Alphaville November 22, 2010

Blink and you may have missed it.

But last Friday, Ben Bernanke probably made his most important speech since his ‘helicopter money‘ talk almost eight years ago.

According to author and economist Richard Duncan this is the first time the Federal Reserve chairman has publicly pointed out that the international monetary system may have a structural flaw. In the dollar standard.

As Duncan told FT Alphaville this weekend:

In it he conceded the Dollar Standard is flawed. He said, “As currently constituted, the international monetary system has a structural flaw: It lacks a mechanism, market based or otherwise, to induce needed adjustments by surplus countries, which can result in persistent imbalances.”

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Posted in Federal Reserve |