Many years ago, as a young lad, I spent a good part of one precious summer hanging around with my mother. She was ill and laid up, and so I spent more than few days watching soap operas with her during the day. At one time, I could tell you in great detail about the characters in all the popular “soaps” of the day. Yes, I admit it. I got caught up in the progressive and seemingly never-ending stories about the problems, intrigues, and behaviors of people living their lives. The hallmark of the soaps, and the singular thing that kept folks such as my mother and me coming back every day was and still is the “cliff-hanging” endings of each show. Perhaps melodramatic is too strong a descriptor for the daily closes, but dramatic is not.
With the ongoing drama in Europe, and the daily closes leaving us all hanging, it seems to me that Europe has become the “Days of Our Lives.” No matter where I mentally go every day, the next episode in the European serial draws me in, forces me to turn to the channel, and it makes me want to know what will happen next.
Dallara, who is chief of the International Institute of Finance, left Athens over the weekend after the last round of talks proved inconclusive. He has pleaded for a quick resolution before time runs out but has not disclosed whether his group is willing to change its stance on the coupon, or interest rate.
As Europe turns, so do the days of our market lives. Frankly, even though I find the soap compelling, I am getting bored with the characters and their Machiavellian twisting to achieve their ends. In the latest twist, Greece and its debtors agree on terms for a default, and the EU Finance ministers nix the deal. The debtors run away saying the deal is off, only later to suggest that maybe things can still work out. C’mon debtor folks. Just accept the reality, absorb your partial losses, and let’s all move on to the next episode.
European banks are preparing for a potential worsening of the region’s sovereign and banking crisis with many firms stockpiling cash and cutting back on loans to new clients as they seek to protect themselves against a possible seizing-up of financial markets.
Ooooh … What will the European banks do? Will they shoot themselves in the foot, or will they see the error of their ways and start acting rationally … Ooooh … I guess I will tune in tomorrow to see, but in the meantime, I can simply flip the channel to get my serial fix.
The Volcker rule was mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law to prevent banks that receive government backstops like deposit insurance from making risky trades with their own funds.
Shhh … Pay attention. Eugene Scalia esq., the son of Anton Scalia, one of nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices, is representing numerous financial concerns in a legal battle to contest the Volker Rule, a congressional mandate designed to regulate the banks as to how much of their customers’ money they can risk in their trading. Will the courts rule in favor of those whose ox will be gored, or will they enforce the new law designed to keep the really big ox from goring the innocent, as it did in 2008? I don’t know about you, but I simply cannot wait to find out what happens tomorrow on all my soaps, including “The Young [Economic Recovery] and the Restless [Market].”
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
