It’s not just the “peripheral” European countries which are in trouble.As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reported yesterday:The escalating debt crisis on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of …
Posts Tagged ‘credit default swaps’
It’s Not Just the “Peripheral” European Countries … Financial Contagion Could Spread to “Core” Eurozone Countries and the U.S.
November 27th, 2010 |
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China Will Allow Credit Default Swaps, As Long As They Are Not Naked
September 15th, 2010 |
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I have repeatedly argued that naked credit default swaps should be banned.”Naked credit default swaps” is the term coined to describe the situation where the buyer is not the referenced entity.The American government hasn’t banned naked CDS. Instead…
China Becoming Target of Credit Default Swaps
July 1st, 2010 |
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As I noted on May 5th, France is in more trouble than most realize.And as I (and many others) have pointed out, China isn’t necessarily the unstoppable powerhouse that people assume.Today, Tyler Durden reported on a startling development: This week’s D…
The Bailout of Big American Banks Has Cost Trillions More Than We’ve Been Told
May 13th, 2010 |
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Granted, the $700 billion dollar TARP bailout was a massive bait-and-switch. The government said it was doing it to soak up toxic assets, and then switched to saying it was needed to free up lending. It didn’t do that either. Indeed, the Fed doesn’t …
California Is More Likely to Default than Iceland or Iraq
May 12th, 2010 |
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The Federal Reserve isn’t the only one who owns credit default swaps betting that California will default.As Ed Harrison points out, credit default traders have now ranked California in the list of top 10 governments most likely to default, with a 20% …
The European Bailout: Not a Very Promising Start
May 11th, 2010 |
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Many people have written insightful criticisms of the European bailout. For example, Tyler Durden, Joe Weisenthal and Gregory White point out that the French banks are the real winners of the bailout (but don’t forget JP Morgan).Ron Paul points out tha…
Are France and Germany In Trouble?
May 6th, 2010 |
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You know that Greece, Portugal and Spain are in trouble.You probably know that the UK is threatened by the sovereign debt contagion.But as the following Reuters chart shows (based on information provided by BIS), France and Germany are the largest hold…
5 Reasons We Must Break Up the Giant Banks
April 30th, 2010 |
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As everyone from Paul Krugman to Simon Johnson has noted, the banks are so big and politically powerful that they have bought the politicians and captured the regulators.But the giant banks are not only dangerous because they skew the political system….
Greek 2 Year Yields 20 Percent, Italy Up 6 Basis Points, Portugal Up 7 Basis Points, Spain Up 27 Basis Points
April 28th, 2010 |
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It’s not just Greece and Portugal.As Simon Johnson reports:This is not now about Greece (with 2 year yields reported around 20 percent today) or Portugal (up 7 basis points) or even Spain (2 year yields up 27 basis points; wake up please) or even Italy…
No, Canada’s Big Banks Don’t Justify America’s Too Big to Fails
April 23rd, 2010 |
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In response to the chorus of experts calling for the mega-banks to be broken up, defenders of our current banking system argue that because Canada’s banking system is pretty stable, and Canada has some giant banks, size isn’t the issue.This might be a …
Are Interest Rate Derivatives a Ticking Time Bomb?
April 22nd, 2010 |
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Derivatives are the world’s largest market, dwarfing the size of the bond market and world’s real economy.The derivatives market is currently at around $600 trillion or so (in gross notional value).In contrast, the size of the worldwide bond market (to…
“We Are in a Cabal… Five or Six Players … Own the Regulatory Apparatus. Everybody Is Afraid to Regulate Them”
April 1st, 2010 |
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Harold Bradley – who oversees almost $2 billion in assets as chief investment officer at the Kauffman Foundation – told the Reuters Global Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York that a cabal is preventing swap derivatives from being forced onto clear…
Bad News for America: U.S. CDS Now Wider Than Europe, Treasury Auctions Bomb
March 25th, 2010 |
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Three stories from the Wall Street Journal hint at bad news for the U.S.Michael Casey notes that American CDS traders view the U.S. as riskier than Europe: Something troubling has occurred in the market for default protection on the debt of the world’…
Top Analyst: “Developed Market Governments Are Insolvent By Any Reasonable Definition”
March 23rd, 2010 |
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Dylan Grice, a top analyst for European financial giant Société Générale, writes:Developed market governments are insolvent by any reasonable definition.Who could have known? Everyone, actually.As I wrote in December 2008, “The “Central Banks’ Cent…
What Do Rising Sovereign Credit Default Swaps Mean?
February 8th, 2010 |
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Here are the CDS of Greece, Portugal, Spain and the U.S.:[click here for full image]Rolfe Winkler argues that – in the short-run – the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) will slash their budgets and get bailed out by the EU.S…