Economics Calendar

Frenzy is spreading says Steen Jakobsen, boss market analyst at Saxo Bank. Steen eyes the ideal tempest including a potential "Section 11" call for European banks.  By means of Email  Toward the beginning of today there is an excess of terrible news.  US...

Credit stress continues in Europe with a spotlight on several countries, none of the typical culprits.Hungary Seeks Aid From EU, IMF The Wall Street Journal reports Hungary Seeks Aid From EU, IMFThe European Commission said Monday that it has received a formal request from Hungary to receive financial assistance from the European Union and the International...

Things are really humming along in Greece, complete with an official denial of instability in the Greek banking system. Please consider Government Doubles Bank GuaranteesState guarantees to Greek commercial banks are to double from 30 billion to 60 billion euros in order to secure liquidity in the market, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told lawmakers...

The official "deadline" for the alleged SuperCommitte to come to an agreement is November 23. However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), needs to have reached a deal today. The Super Wimps failed in their mission as anyone with any common sense might have guessed. There simply is no sense of urgency.This paragraph from the Bloomberg article Supercommittee...

Here are some charts and commentary from Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.Via email, Steen writes ...We have a new stress high in our indicators. Core Europe is under pressure.In Europe the two new Super technocrats (Papademos and Monti) meets with EU officials...

I used to have a modicum of respect for Bob Schieffer, host of Face the Nation. Not anymore. Instead of conducting an interview, Schieffer acted with clear intent to discredit Ron Paul. It backfired on Schieffer when Paul held his ground and refused to be cutoff by Schieffer's biased comments.Link if YouTube Video does not play: Ron Paul on Face the...

One might think (and one would certainly hope) that financial institutions would have learned something from the blowup of MF Global and Missing Client MoneyOne might also think (and again one would hope) in the wake of failing banks like Dexia that financial institutions would have some sense of responsibility as to where they park money.It goes back...

On November 11, I commented on Whack-a-Mole Euphoria and 6-Sigma EventsHooray! The Borg Technocrats have saved us already, even though they have yet to lift a metallic finger.The Borg took a huge whack not at a mole actually, but an Italian Elephant. This event instantaneously brought...

Banks keep investors in the dark on trillions of dollars of derivatives risk by only reporting net exposure. Here is a net exposure example to show what I mean. Suppose I owe my sister Sue $250,000 and Uncle Ernie owes me $250,000. My net position would appear to be zero. But what if uncle Ernie is bankrupt or simply will never pay the loan back for...

In response to last Friday's post Slovenian Bond Yield Breaks 7%, First Time Since Euro Entry in 2007 I received an interesting email from a Slovenian economist who says "Our banking system is on the brink of collapse."Luka Gubo writes ...Hello Mish!I am an economist from Slovenia (I have written you before about social unrest in Slovenia). I just...

To raise "bailout" money the EFSF sells bonds. In its first auction after the new Merkozy agreement, not enough investors wanted the garbage and the fund ended up buying some of its own bonds.The Telegraph reports Eurozone bail-out fund has to resort to buying its own debtThe European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) last week announced it had successfully...

The following must see video shows Eurocrats in action, ripping off taxpayers and inadvertently running into walls to escape the lights of the camera. The video is in German but has English subtitles. A second video follows with French Subtitles.The YouTube link Expense Allowance Abuse by MEPs contains additional noteworthy information.Hans-Peter Martin...

Greek prime minister George Papandreou pulled a second major surprise move in two days. Yesterday he rattled the markets with a bombshell voter referendum proposal on the EU bailout (see EU Deal Unravels from Many Sides; Italy, France Bond Spreads Hit Record High vs. Germany; Bund Yield Drops Most on Record; All Out Bond Crisis).Greece Replaces Top...