The debt deal cut in Europe last week apparently did not get out in front of the markets through its own actions.Interest rates and interest rate spreads over the German 10-year bond rate remained at or near Euro-era highs....
Read MoreBusiness lending continues to accelerate in US commercial banking system according to the latest data released by the Federal Reserve System.Although overall lending has not increased by much in the commercial banks, only about...
Read MoreTuesday, a new player moves into the top rung of European officials dealing with the European financial crisis.Mario Draghi is not “new” to the European scene, but on Tuesday he takes over as the president of the...
Read MoreThe first response of world financial markets to the eurozone package produced early Thursday morning was positive. The second response… “Italy issued 10-year debt on Friday but paid the highest price since joining...
Read MoreThe news out of Rome: “Silvio Berlusconi has salvaged a compromise agreement on economic reforms with his coalition partners that commentators said lacks specifics and risks falling short of what eurozone leaders have...
Read MoreIn my last post I wrote about the role that Italy might play in any solution to the European sovereign debt crisis. (See http://seekingalpha.com/article/301607-italy-is-the-key-to-solving-the-euro-debt-crisis.) It seems as if...
Read MoreIt seems to be boiling down to this.Italy and its prime minister Silvio Berlusconi are the evolving focus of any acceptable solution to the European sovereign debt crisis.There are, I believe, two reasons for this focus.First,...
Read MoreNews is leaking out that the”haircuts” on European Sovereign debt are going to be greater than imaginedjust several weeks ago!”EU looks at 60%haircuts for Greek debt.”...
Read MorePoor Ben Bernanke. To me, the kindest thing that can be said about him is that he is suffering the fate of those who are in charge of large institutions with little or no practical experience in administering any other...
Read MoreI believe, as I have written before, that the United States economy is recovering and will continue to recover. However, I also believe that “financial crises are protracted affairs.” (Reinhart and Rogoff,...
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