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The Merkel-Sarkozy weekend summit finished with both leaders promising ‘lasting, global and quick responses before the end of the month’. As ever, no concrete details were announced, but it seems that the plan will concentrate on recapitalising banks. Hopes for a comprehensive plan would increase if the Slovakian government passes…
The Bank of England (BoE) surprised the majority of the market yesterday, when they announced an additional £75 billion of ‘Quantitative Easing’, or ‘asset purchases’ as Sir Mervin King prefers. This is the process where the BoE creates money to buy government bonds from pension funds and banks in order…
Final figures for Euro zone PMI released this week have shown evidence of contraction in both the service and manufacturing sectors. Most worryingly both surveys also revealed a dramatic drop off in the new orders component suggesting that the Euro zone may be about to enter in to a ‘mild…
Investors and traders might have been flailing around yesterday trying to follow the latest twists and turns in the unfolding Greek tragedy but they can take comfort – if that’s the right word – that their Leaders at the G20 Summit in Cannes were in exactly the same position. By…
George Papandreou arrived in Cannes yesterday, with a warning from the French Prime Minister ringing in his ears that Greece had to abide by the rules, or leave the Euro Zone. Mr Papandreou has also been told that the next tranche of bailout funds due on the 11th December will…
Last week’s resolution to the Euro Zone debt crisis, which was meant to buy the single currency time, lies in tatters this morning. The Greek prime minister, George Papandreou yesterday discussed his idea for a referendum on Greece’s involvement in the Euro Zone and on accepting the latest bailout package….
Halloween marks the end of an era at the ECB with President Trichet stepping down to be replaced by Mario Draghi. Draghi in turn presides over his first ECB Council Meeting on Thursday with the market split as to whether he will cut rates in light of weak survey data…
Brussels yesterday metamorphosed itself into Hollywood for the evening, as European leaders were met with a red carpet and a barrage of photographers, before entering in to vital talks which aimed for the night’s big prize of saving the Euro. The plan unveiled after 10 hours of negotiations seems to…
The hope had been that today’s meeting of Euro Zone leaders would be the catalyst for finding a solution to the Euro’s woes. However, a resolution is looking increasingly unlikely after the meeting of European Finance ministers before this evening’s summit, which was scheduled for last night, was cancelled. In…
Wednesday’s meeting of Euro Zone leaders was given added impetus yesterday – as if it needed it – with the release of the flash estimate of Euro zone PMI, which showed a deeper than predicted contraction to 47.2, against expectations of 48.8. The Euro Zone service sector was the main…