Friday, June 15, 2012

Central Banks pledge liquidity after Greek vote

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/15/eurozone-idUSL5E8HE4H320120615

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - Central banks from major economies stand ready to take steps, including coordinated action, to stabilise markets as world economies prepare for a possible financial storm or public panic after cliffhanger elections in Greece this weekend.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/47828696 Stocks opened higher Friday, lifted by reports that major central banks are preparing coordinated action to provide liquidity after the Greek elections over the weekend.

EES: The Fallacy of State Backed Deposits

There is a perception in Europe during the current crisis that Germany should somehow guarantee all deposits, similar to what is done in the U.S. with the FDIC.


http://seekingalpha.com/article/657971-the-fallacy-of-state-backed-deposits

Thursday, June 14, 2012

EES: Strangle The Euro

The European crisis is a major market driving factor for the last several months. Instead of guessing the outcome, why not bet on something that is almost a certainty: volatility.

Read full article on Seeking Alpha: 
http://seekingalpha.com/article/657361-strangle-the-euro

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Euro Break Up Plan - Capital, People controls


BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission has been providing legal advice to others who are considering possible scenarios should Greece leave the euro, a European Union spokesman said.
Olivier Bailly said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it's necessary to protect public order or public security — but not on economic grounds.
"Some people are working on scenarios," he said, but refused to confirm or identify which organizations and people were working on them.


A single regulator to oversee banks across all 27 European Union states could be in place as early as 2013 according to the European Commission...    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18409175


Spain's borrowing costs have risen to the highest rate since the launch of the euro in 1999.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield hit 6.81%, as optimism about the weekend's Spanish bank bailout continued to evaporate...   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18405729


European finance officials have discussed limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing euro zone capital controls as a worst-case scenario should Athens decide to leave the euro.
EU officials said the ideas are part of a range of contingency plans. They emphasised that the discussions were merely about being prepared for any eventuality rather than planning for something they expect to happen.
But with increased political uncertainty in Greece following the inconclusive election on May 6th and ahead of a second election on June 17th, there is now an increased need to have contingencies in place, the EU sources said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0612/breaking24.html

Monday, June 11, 2012

Italian Bank BNI blocks withdrawals, payments


Thursday, June 7, 2012


BNI depositors unable to make withdrawals / payments, payments of utility bills, mortgage payments, taxes
Peter Giordano, Adiconsum: "Grave of the Bank of Italy's attitude that takes action without considering the impact on depositors, and especially on single-income families and pensioners"
Adiconsum Bank of Italy asks for an urgent meeting and the lifting of the
The Bank of Italy authorized the suspension of payments by Bank Network Investments SpA (BNI) without communicating anything to the depositors.
Very serious and unacceptable - says Peter Jordan, Secretary General Adiconsum - the attitude of the Bank of Italy SpA in each BNI, because highly prejudicial to the interests of customers.
Bank of Italy, in fact, after extending the receivership of the bank, thus giving the impression of an imminent rescue, then gave the green light for compulsory winding up, without giving any prior notice to the depositors, leaving them in no condition to perform any type of operation, even basic ones for daily survival, such as withdrawals / payments, utilities payments, rates, taxes.
We must unfortunately note that offensive measures as those adopted to customers BNI - Giordano complaint - not an isolated case. Decisions without taking into account the heavy impact, particularly on savers in possession of a single bank account on which accrediting salary or pension, are not new to Bank of Italy, and also affected depositors of Banca MB.
The attitude of the Bank of Italy - Jordan continues - is bureaucratic and deed and as Adiconsum we asked in a letter sent to the Bank of Italy and the lifting of the BNI and an urgent meeting to define the way in which customers, especially Fixed-income families and pensioners, can perform normal daily operations.



(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks and Madrid said it would specify precisely how much it needs once independent audits report in just over a week.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

ECB warns Euro survival at risk - money flies out of Spain


The European Central Bank stepped up pressure on Thursday for a joint guarantee for bank deposits across the euro zone, saying Europe needed new tools to fight bank runs as the bloc's debt crisis drives investors to flee risk.
The European Commission's top economic official, Olli Rehn, warned that the single currency area could disintegrate without stronger crisis-fighting mechanisms and tough fiscal discipline.
The twin warnings came as worries about Spain's banks and Greece's survival in the euro area pushed the euro to a two-year low against the dollar and hastened a rush into safe-haven assets such as Austrian and French bonds, whose 10-year yields hit a euro-era low.
Spaniards alarmed by the dire state of their banks moved more money abroad in March faster than at any time since records began in 1990, official figures showed.
The 66.2 billion euros ($82.0 billion) net capital flight occurred before the nationalisation of Spain's fourth biggest lender, Bankia <B KIA.M>, in May due to massive losses from a burst property bubble.
MADRID (Reuters) - Spaniards alarmed by the dire state of their banks are squirreling money abroad at the fastest rate since records began, figures showed on Thursday, and the credit ratings of eight regions were cut.

Spain is the next country in the firing line of the euro zone's debt crisis, with spendthrift regions and shaky banks threatening to blow a hole in state finances and pushing funding costs towards levels that signal the need for a bailout.

The European Commission gave new help on Wednesday, offering direct aid from a euro zone rescue fund to recapitalize Spanish banks and more time for Madrid to reduce its budget deficit.
That helped lower the risk premium investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year debt rather than the German benchmark on Thursday, but it remained close to the euro-era record, at 520 basis points.

Bank of Spain data showed a net 66.2 billion euros ($82.0 billion) was sent abroad last month, the most since records began in 1990. The figure compares to a 5.4 billion net entry of funds during the same month one year ago.


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Euro in free fall - breaks 1.24

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/30/markets-forex-idUSL1E8GU26H20120530


* Euro heads towards low $1.20s on Spain worries
    * Spanish debt yields near dangerous levels, risk of bailout
growing
    * Italian borrowing costs soar at bond sale

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-29/euro-slides-toward-2-year-low-amid-concern-over-spanish-banks.html

The euro fell to the lowest in almost two years against the dollar as Spain struggled to rescue its troubled banks, adding to signs the European debt crisis is spreading to the region’s larger economies.
The 17-nation currency slid for a seventh day versus the yen, the longest losing streak in four months, after Italy sold less than its maximum target at a debt auction. The yen and dollar strengthened as investors sought safer assets after a European report showed economic confidence dropped more than economists estimated in May. Asian currencies weakened, pushing the Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index to the lowest level since September 2010.

FX to remain unscathed by Euro collapse


dollar vortex
Analysis by US based Greenwich Associates into foreign exchange data from the past 13 years leads it to conclude that FX markets will survive any Greek exit from the euro relatively unscathed.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Market prepares for Greek exit of Euro


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18233033 The premium for Spain's 10-year bond over its German equivalent rose to 5.05 percentage points, the highest since the euro was formed..

The slow and silent run on banks in Italy and Spain - and Greece, of course - is a reality, according to bankers and regulators, although not yet a lethal one...   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18234057


...In plain terms, by mid-June, Greece could very well be controlled by an anti-austerity, anti-bailout party that wants to completely do away with the second Greek bailout (which means a potential disorderly default).

This actually is the best possible outcome for Greece as the alternative is outright anarchy...   http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article34874.html 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18074674 What could happen if Greece leaves the Euro?

http://www.economonitor.com/nouriel/2012/05/17/greece-must-exit/ The Greek euro tragedy is reaching its final act: it is clear that either this year or next, Greece is highly likely to default on its debt and exit the eurozone.


Postponing the exit after the June election with a new government committed to a variant of the same failed policies (recessionary austerity and structural reforms) will not restore growth and competitiveness. Greece is stuck in a vicious cycle of insolvency, lost competitiveness, external deficits, and ever-deepening depression. The only way to stop it is to begin an orderly default and exit, coordinated and financed by the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (the “Troika”), that minimizes collateral damage to Greece and the rest of the eurozone.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Europe imploding


Here are the major developments we’ve seen so far:


Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says a Greek exit from the euro would have a "very unpredictable knock on effect" on the global economy.


ROME/HELSINKI, May 24 (Reuters) - At least half of euro zone governments as well as banks and large companies are making contingency plans in case Greece decides to leave the single currency area, even though the preferred option is still for Athens to keep the euro.
Italy's Deputy Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said his country was ready for such a possibility, if Greek voters on June 17 give power to parties that reject reforms agreed with the EU and IMF in exchange for emergency loans.



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Forex Expert Advisors

There are lots of ideas meant to help traders make money, but it is easy to see why expert advisor systems stand out among them as being so appealing for so many traders. Although this type of technology was first implemented in the futures market, the currency exchange market quickly saw the advantages to these programs and eagerly stepped up in implementing them. Their growing popularity on the forex market shows how useful the systems can be for traders who use them.

Depending on the system's available features and level of technological support for the software, expert advisor systems will support at least most of the indicators commonly used on the currency market: types of averages (exponential moving average, weighted moving average, simple moving average, triangular, variable and time series moving average), Wilder's average true range, standard deviation, mass index, trailing stops, vertical horizontal filter, fixed stops and limits, and many more. They can perform trading operations in real time. In other words, it only takes seconds, so the trader doesn't have to wait for the trade to go through. It also allows for greater diversification of trading and being capable of analyzing data over very short periods of time. That creates more investment opportunities and the potential for profit both in local markets and internationally. Expert advisor programs allow short term data analysis, which was not possible until the automated systems were produced and gives the trader an edge in that he can now easily predict market trends within a short period of time and react accordingly.

One of the greatest benefits of these systems is that they increase daily trades to a large degree. This is the logical result of transaction execution times dropping from seconds to a few fractions of a second. More trades to go through per trader in a twenty-four hour period. Correspondingly, the number of traders is going up all the time, which further allows the market to expand even more and move even more quickly.

Forex expert advisors instantly execute every transaction, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, where a human trader would have to sleep or spend time with his family instead of checking the market. The programs adhere to the usual trading rules and follow the same indicators as manual traders. They offer access to a number of different functions, including money management, automatic trailing stops, discretionary market orders and limit and/or stop orders, and provide various indicators for technical analysis to give the human trader the chance to study current trends and then develop strategies based on those trends for future trading.

Technology is constantly changing and improving. As more and more investors learn how to take advantage of its benefits, expert advisors will continue to help the market develop, making it even easier for people to profit from foreign currency trading.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Banks prepare for the return of the drachma


Drachma coins are on display in this picture illustration taken in Athens November 11, 2011. Greece's prime minister designate will name a new crisis cabinet on Friday to roll out painful austerity measures and calm the political turmoil that has threatened to bankrupt Athens and force it out of the euro zone. REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis (GREECE - Tags: BUSINESS)

(Reuters) - Banks are quietly readying themselves to start trading a new Greek currency. Some banks never erased the drachma from their systems afterGreece adopted the euro more than a decade ago and would be ready at the flick of a switch if its debt problems forced it to bring back national banknotes and coins.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/11/us-banks-drachma-idUSBRE84A0DC20120511

BBC: How does Greece leave the Euro? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15575751

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_drachma


“Drachma Clauses”: Planning for Greece’s Exit from the Eurozone



http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-16-21/%E2%80%9Cdrachma-clauses%E2%80%9D-planning-greece%E2%80%99s-exit-eurozone