RAPID RESPONSES December 20, 2011 Europe’s agenda Roland Rudd is a respected enthusiast for the European project [The City of London needs a Europe strategy that does not lead to it being sidelined, Monday]. But he is mistaken in our relationship with Europe and it is time for fundamental review. Rudd highlights Margaret Thatcher’s acceptance of qualified majority voting, driven [...]
2011 saw an Arab Spring and the euro in crisis – get ready for even more drama in 2012 December 19, 2011 IT’S been quite a year: the Eurozone is in crisis and the US lost its AAA credit rating from S&P. But economists warn that next year could be worse. There might be a repeat of 2008 – a credit crunch and another recession. Worse, the head of the IMF Christine Lagarde warns of a “lost [...]
Eurozone back in the eye of the storm December 14, 2011 YOU can’t fool all the people all of the time. Unfortunately, you can generally con quite a few of them temporarily, but it doesn’t usually last very long. The most recent EU summit was a case in point. With all such meetings, investors temporarily accept politicians’ claims to have triumphed at face value, as long as [...]
Automatic fines are a SAD Eurozone policy December 13, 2011 THE cold war policy of mutual assured destruction stuck many people as mad. If the Soviet Union was wicked and foolish enough to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, killing millions of innocent Americans and plunging the planet into a nuclear winter, it would be crazy to compound this wickedness with a retaliatory [...]
Germany pours cold water on EU summit hopes December 7, 2011 Pessimistic comments from EU paymaster Germany and new figures exposing deepening stress among Europe’s banks have dented financial market hopes of a turning point in the euro zone’s debt crisis at a summit this week. President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel detailed their plan to amend the EU treaty to anchor stricter budget discipline [...]
Banks and miners fuel FTSE gains December 7, 2011 Miners and banks fuelled a lift in the FTSE 100 as investor sentiment improved ahead of a crunch Eurozone summit. The blue chip index mirrored Asia and the US where markets recovered from the ratings blow from Standard & Poor’s, which threatened to downgrade 15 nations, including Germany. There is mounting optimism that Eurozone leaders [...]
S&P move would make EU stability history December 6, 2011 WITH member states coming to the grim realisation that if the Eurozone situation gets any worse they are going to be inflicted with Bob Geldof staging a charity concert for it, the S&P ratings agency drew that nightmare one step closer. I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS On Monday, the ratings agency put the bulk of the [...]
S&P may cut Eurozone rescue fund AAA-rating December 6, 2011 Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has fired a second warning shot at the Eurozone in 24 hours, threatening to cut the rating of its bailout fund as European leaders raced to find a political solution to their sovereign debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy want to change EU rules [...]
RATING AGENCY DROPS EUROZONE BOMBSHELL December 6, 2011 RATINGS agency Standard & Poors (S&P) wrecked a mood of growing optimism about the Eurozone debt crisis last night by warning that 15 of the region’s 17 countries face credit downgrades if politicians do not get a grip. Less than a month after the EU threatened a crackdown on ratings agencies, S&P blasted Brussels’ “defensive [...]
Merkozy deal on spending December 6, 2011 PROFLIGATE governments will be punished by other euro states under tough new rules unveiled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday. But the Eurozone’s bailout fund will not have the power to negotiate haircuts with private-sector bondholders and overspending states will not be hauled in front of the EU courts, previous [...]