Politicians lead you to make more mistakes than any human invention in history with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

Prudence has come into question these days in investing. It is not just the fiscal cliff in the United States but also the various monetary cliffs in Europe that lead me to this observation. I heard from a reporter from Reuters over the weekend stating that I was wrong and that things were more settled in Europe because the ECB had mollified the market pressures. He lives in Brussels so I am not surprised with his viewpoint and I think he is correct in his remark except that market pressures are not nearly the whole story these days. It is like we are hiking in the Alps and the path is narrow and there are savage drop-offs to the left and to the right and we have been walking for some time now and are tired and the danger increases as our weariness grows.My mechanic recently told me; "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."

One might suppose, in America, that the danger of our plunging into the sea of adversity decreases if Romney is elected along with a Republican Congress because everyone will be on basically the same page. Obama in the White House and a Republican Congress could lead to all kinds of issues that could cause lock-up and political stalemate. It may be better in some circumstances to have a divided leadership but perhaps not in our present circumstances. We will all know the results of the election soon enough.

Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

In Europe we have gone nowhere. Yes, the ECB has presented their grand proclamation of unlimited money forever and ever and praise God and Hallelujah but the condition ties the horse to the cart and is inseparable according to Mr. Draghi. Yes, the markets have been soothed by his comments or perhaps it is just the fear of intervention that has driven both speculative and real money from the marketplace. Yet the European Union has gone nowhere in addressing the funding of Cyprus, of Spain, of Portugal and of Greece. With Athens it may get down to some day in November when they call Berlin and say, “Out of money, we are out of money and can’t pay our bills and now what?” Then we will have panic and chaos which may not square up with the next new, new Summit that will most assuredly save Europe as we are told for the zillionth time.In Europe they are following their dreams.In Brussels they ask where they are going. In Berlin they tell you where they are going. They will all meet up with them eventually.

The prudence issue is a real one. It is quite difficult to be the prudent man given the road we are traversing. If we keep stumbling along and the central banks of the known world keep providing liquidity then there is some reason for the compression in the bond markets and for the state of the equity markets but if the European recession hits the American shores, as it appears that it is as denoted by recent corporate earnings, and if China finds itself mired in Beijing maple syrup and if Europe reaches a point of non-agreement and non-compromise then our circumstances will be drastically changed and I mean drastically. Central bank intervention is the only thing, in my opinion, that is holding the construct together and politics both in America and in Europe could cancel the blank checks as a result of the votes of the citizens in various countries.In the first place God made idiots. That was just for practice. Then he made politicians.

Grant’s Rules 1-10 do not vary. “Preservation of Capital” must be the watchword in this market; in all markets.Any mistake made is now magnified by our very low interest rates so that any error is compounded by the ability to make back the loss. In America we are facing our national elections. In Europe we are facing a hardening of positions where the divisions between the North and the South, with France lining up with the Socialist South, are edging closer to some nation or another refusing to fund. The scheme of diversion can last only so long as real decisions with real consequences are about to be forced upon the Continent as funding must come or not come and as various nations do not want to use their citizen’s money to hand to other countries that have engaged in fiscally irresponsible strategies. I repeat, one more time, that we have entered the “Danger Zone” in my view where the investment tactics of today may not be suited for what is just ahead. The road has been long, the liquidity provided by the Central Banks and the lack of political consensus has caused delay after delay but soon, very soon, the Europeans are going to be forced to decide; fund or not to fund and then the “really big show” will get underway!

and on the subject of politicians....

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_22/10/2012_466871

Coalition partners meet Tuesday to finalize measures

Coalition leaders will meet on Tuesday at 15.00 for talks on the new cost-cutting measures demanded by Greece's foreign lenders so that the country can secure its next tranche of aid to avoid bankruptcy.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis will discuss the final details of the 13.5-billion-euro package -- which includes a new wave of cuts to wages and pensions -- and when this will be voted on in Parliament.

Athens must vote the measures through by the time eurozone finance ministers meet on November 12.

Reports on Monday said the government and troika officials are close to an agreement on the content of the package.

The two sides appear to have reached a compromise on the thorny issue of labor reforms which have previously prompted objections from government coalition partners.

Greek officials last week resisted a troika request for compensation for sacked workers to be reduced and for automatic three-year pay rises to employees earning the minimum wage to be scrapped.

Meawhile, Samaras on Monday expelled one of his deputies for threatening to vote against the package.

Nikos Stavrogiannis, a Fthiotida MP, was dismissed from the New Democracy parliamentary group after saying he would vote against the measures because they were “unfair, harsh and ineffective.”

Stavrogiannis hit back saying he could no longer follow ND's “Ovidian transformations.”

and more on Greece......

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/breaking-troika-greeks-reach-austerity-agreement/

OCTOBER 22, 2012 · 6:03 AM

↓ Jump to Comments

BREAKING….Troika, Greeks reach austerity agreement

Eurogroup ‘will meet Friday’ to rubber stamp aid…and produce a sweetener.

Some of you may have noticed the millions of cubic metres of praise for Greece’s austerity efforts pouring out of various EU capitals, Brussels and Berlin last week. Such orchestrated stuff is usually the preface – a ‘softening up’ process – prior to eurozone leaders cutting a deal of some kind. Last week Greeks bad guys, this week Greeks good guys, next week compromise.

News coming in from Athens this morning suggests that the last bit of this process fell into place last night, when the Troika and Greek leaders led by Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras (above) reached a final deal on the austerity measures necessary to release the next E31bn tranche of bailout monies.

As predicted here six days ago, I also understand from The Slog’s Brussels mole that the Commission still hopes to slip some additional aid and debt forgiveness under the radar along with the agreed 31bn aid package. And in turn, “The message from Brussels is to finish with the Greek issue as soon as possible and take advantage of the good climate towards Greece,” said a correspondent working for private Greek TV station Alpha last night.

The same source also believes that the Troika will submit its report on Greece to Eurozone finmins this coming Wedneday, and that there will be ‘an extraordinary meeting’ of the Eurogroup forum two days later. Stournaras denied all knowledge of such a meeting.

Enormous pressure has been exerted by the French to get this deal moving. In turn, they have laid great emphasis on immediate and direct expenditure to recapitalise Greek banks. As the Emporiki giveaway showed last week, this French desire is far from philanthropic.

and....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-22/overnight-summary-same-confusion-different-day

Overnight Summary: Same Confusion, Different Day

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/22/2012 06:58 -0400

Once again confusion is rife overnight, following yesterday's main European event, Spain's first "mixed" regional election, which saw Rajoy's PP party in his home state of Galicia eeking a majority by a few seats, offset by wins for nationalist parties in the Basque Country. The immediate read here is that the Galician win is an endorsement of Rajoy's "austerity poilicies" and thus EUR positive (which have yet to be actually implemented as Spanish spending continues to rise, as tax revenues continue to drop), yet it makes the likelihood that Spain requests a bailout before the Spanish regional election on November 25, which is about secession, virtually nil, and thus SPGB negative. Furthermore as Bank of America points out "some euro-area govts may remain reluctant to support Spain’s request as long as yields continue to be low, banks haven’t been recapitalized; probably reinforced by Catalonia elections" but that is a reality tale for another day - the "market" can only handle so much.

Elsewhere, confirming that Japan's economy has resumed tanking is Reuters October manufacturing Tankan index, which printed at -17, down from -5 in September, and the worst print since before Fukushima. And this is 8 iterations of QE in. Per Reuters: "The monthly poll, which closely correlates with the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan and economic growth trends, highlighted deepening pessimism in the world's third-largest economy." Oh well, there is always QE 9 any minute now.

Finally, in a perfectly expected recap of last week's biggest event in Europe, Moody's just confirmed our mockery of this latest epic non-event, and said that "lack of progress at Friday's EU Summit on a proposed EU banking union is a credit negative for weaker members of the euro zone." Moody's noted that at the meeting, the leaders committed only to agreeing the "legislative framework" for the proposal before the end of 2012. "However, stark disagreements were apparent in many officials' post-summit announcements regarding the design, desirability, and implications of this potential mechanism", Moody's noted. A "credit negative" event for the same Spain that Moody's just days prior decided not to downgrade to junk status. And one wonders why nobody takes either Europe or Moody's seriously.

In FX trading news, the EURUSD has seen its now traditional BIS-inspired dose of upside exuberance in overnight trading, set to fizzle shortly. From SocGen:

EUR/USD 1.3012-1.3066 overnight range. Relief greeted the Galicia election outcome and has given EUR/G10 a lift. EUR/USD bounced off Friday's 1.3013 low with the 1mth RR rallying to -0.27. Liikanen/Nowotny scheduled to speak today.

USD/JPY 79.22-79.67 overnight range. Clean break of the 200d ma at 79.43 propels spot over 79.50 for the first time in two months. Weak exports data and BoJ's Shirakawa comments help to weaken JPY. EUR/JPY resistance 104.50/83.

GBP/USD 1.5991-1.6041 overnight range. Some signs of relief buying from Friday's collapse below 1.60 but the chart does not look constructive for further gains. Caution warranted ahead of Q3 GDP data on Thursday. EUR/GBP motoring higher.

AUD/USD 1.0302-1.0332 overnight range. Rebound mitigated by the RBA comments overnight about wanting to see a weaker AUD. Support 1.0302 and 1.0255 below, resistance 1.0345. EUR/AUD resistance 1.2700/31. Q3 CPI on Wednesday.

On the quiet docket today, which will be spent by pundits contemplating today's final Obama-Romney foreign policy-focused debate:

The regional election in Galicia yesterday brought relief for the Rajoy government (PP traditionally weakest in Basque country) and set a positive tone for EUR/G10 overnight, helping the single currency to consolidate its position and in some cases build gains despite the frustratingly slow progress in EU policy matters. Though net short EUR positions continue to decline (see IMM chart), EUR/USD is still locked in a six-week range (1.2804-1.3172) and niggling uncertainty about Spain and Greece may contribute to lacklustre conditions over the coming days.

The focus will be on the FOMC on Wednesday and eurozone data for signs that business conditions are stabilising in early Q4. The picture is looking somewhat more promising for crosses like EUR/GBP and EUR/JPY only because of further easing prospects in the UK or Japan, and the resilience of risk assets more generally this month (though mindful of Friday's negative close). Uncertainty over budget discipline in Greece and financing conditions in Spain will continue to test market confidence and Moody's warning of the implications for sovereign creditworthiness because of ongoing dissonance among EU leaders on a banking union will be viewed overseas with scepticism that the EUR bounce since the summer can last.

A quiet day today features no first-tier data but includes speeches by ECB members Liikanen and Nowotny

And a comprehensive summary narrative of all things notable, as usual from DB's Jim Reid:

The main risk event over the weekend was the Spanish regional elections as Galicia and the Basque Country went to the polls on Sunday. With the central government relying on the cooperation of the regions in its fiscal consolidation efforts, the media had hyped the election in Galicia (which happens to be Rajoy’s home region) as a “pseudo-referendum” on the Spanish government’s austerity and reform programs. Early poll results show Rajoy’s People’s Party not only retaining its majority in Galicia, but managing to increase its absolute majority by three seats to 41 out of 75 in the region’s parliament (FT). Opinion polls before the vote had indicated the PP would win 39 or fewer seats (Reuters), so the result is probably a mild positive for Rajoy’s agenda and for markets in general. The rival Socialist Workers Party’s share of seats dropped to 18 from 25.

Meanwhile, results in the Basque Country were less favourable for Rajoy. The moderate Basque Nationalist Party (which has ruled the region for 26 of the past 32 years) won 27 seats out of 75, bringing to an end to three years of rule by the Socialists (who took 16 seats). The pro-independence Bildu party took 21 seats (from zero previously) while the PP lost 3 seats to hold 10, although the PP has historically been the weakest party in the region. It is not yet clear who the Basque Nationalist Party will team with to form a government but Reuters is reporting that the nationalists may prefer to form a coalition with the Socialist Party rather than with Bildu, a separatist party previously banned from running by Spain’s constitutional court for its association with the armed separatist group Eta (FT).

With no large swing away from the PP, the weekend’s results probably make it easier for Rajoy to ask for a MoU – although snap elections in the wealthier and more populous Catalonia region on November 25th, seen as a potential vote for greater economic independence from the central government, is a key risk to this view.

So we’ll be watching Rajoy this week although Spain seems to be fading from view as a big macro driver for the time being. There is however plenty going on elsewhere.

Overnight markets are trading lower, not helped by the weak US lead from Friday. The Shanghai Composite (-0.4%) and KOSPI (-0.75%) are leading the losses, while the Hang Seng (+0.1%) is bucking the regional trend ahead of a key earnings announcement from indexheavyweight China Mobile today. Weekend headlines are also weighing on sentiment after Merkel ruled out retroactive direct bank recaps ahead of the establishment of a single supervisory mechanism (SSM) in 2014 and French President Hollande said that there was no discussion of Spanish aid at last week’s EU Summit. Asian (+3bp) and Australian (+4bp) benchmark credit indices are trading wider for the second consecutive session.

Overall it’s been a bit of a strange few days for markets. On Wednesday evening the S&P 500 was flirting with its post-QE3 highs only to fall to close to its post QE3 lows by the end of Friday after a -1.66% drop – the most since June 21st. It also dropped the index below its 50 day moving average for the first time since June 28th. It was a week where Financials (+1.95%) led the way and IT slumped (-2.4%) after Google (-8.4%) and Microsoft (-1.9%) disappointed. InterestinglyApple is down 13.1% from its September 19th peak which equates to $86.4bn of market cap being wiped off – equivalent to about 10% of the market cap of France’s CAC40 or 21% of Spain’s IBEX index.

Earnings season has certainly caused some of the divergent performance in what has been a mixed bag for the US so far. As we highlighted last week, the strong earnings beat performance versus the disappointing revenue performance has been the ongoing theme for the US reporting season to date. As of last Friday our count shows that 70% of the 96 S&P 500 firms reporting since October 1st, have so far exceeded analysts’ expectations although only 40% managed to beat top line estimates. We still have few weeks to go before we can firmly conclude but it does look like we are headed towards the second consecutive quarter where companies managed to eke out earnings performance despite sales weakness. Indeed the Q2 beat:miss ratio wasn’t all that different to the current run rate at 69%:30% (1% in line) for EPS and 41%:59% for revenue. It is still fairly early days for the European reporting season but so far the trend is almost exactly the opposite with a beat:miss ratio of 50%:50% for EPS but a much stronger 62%:38% for sales.

Taking a closer look at the US performance by sectors, the strongest earnings beats have come from Health Care, Consumer Services and Financials with over 80% beats. The weak revenue performance is fairly consistent across the board. Indeed Financials aside all the major sectors are pretty much running at a miss ratio of over 50%. The misfiring IT sector has seen only 56% beats on EPS with the number dipping to 44% on revenues. This week we have 160 S&P 500 companies reporting together with 89 from the Stoxx 600 so plenty of new information to add. The main ones to watch in the US are Caterpillar (Monday), UPS (Tuesday), Facebook (Tuesday), Apple, ConocoPhilips and Procter & Gamble (all Thursday). In Europe, earnings of note include Philips Electronics (Monday), KPN (Tuesday), Volkswagen (Wednesday), Credit Suisse and Unilever (both Thursday).

Elsewhere this week the key events include the release of the preliminary/flash global PMIs, the final US Presidential debate and the first post QE3 FOMC meeting. The flash PMIs which will be a key gauge of sentiment after the central bank actions of September. The market is expecting a 0.4ppt and 0.3ppt improvement in the Eurozone manufacturing and services PMIs respectively (to 46.5 and 46.4), driven by better readings from France and Germany. Also on Wednesday, the Markit preliminary PMI for the US is due (market expecting no change at 51.5) while in China, we get the HSBC flash manufacturing PMI.

Before this, today’s final US Presidential debate (9pm USEST) focuses on foreign policy so all eyes on the overall outcome before Europe opens tomorrow. The debate takes on additional significance with a weekend WSJ/NBC News poll suggesting a dead heat between Obama and Romney. This reminds us that it was 12 years ago we had the hanging chads saga. Time flies. The debate will be followed later in the week by the FOMC meeting on Tues-Wed. There will be no post-FOMC press conference with Chairman Bernanke this time around and our economists expect no new policy announcements given the proximity to the November elections. Apple is expected to unveil its iPad-mini on Tuesday and I for one will be casting a watchful eye over the new device, working out how I can justify it being essential for my day to day life. Key US economic data releases include new home sales (consensus: 385k), pending home sales (cons: +2.5%), durable goods orders (cons: +7%) and Q3 GDP (cons: +1.8%).

Back in Europe, Mario Draghi briefs members of the Bundestag on Wednesday in an effort to build greater consensus amongst German lawmakers for the ECB’s OMT programme. The UK’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will be taking evidence from ECB governing council member Erkki Liikanen on the topic of financial sector reform today (scheduled for 2:30pm London). Aside from Wednesday’s PMIs, other notable European data releases throughout the week include German IFO expectations (Wednesday), Euro Zone consumer confidence (Wednesday), Eurozone money supply (Thursday) and 3Q UK GDP (Thursday).

and......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/9624898/Debt-Crisis-EU-and-eurozones-deficit-falls-but-debt-rises-live.html

13.52 It's looking likley that a deal will be reached between Greece and its creditors which will release the next tranche of its bailout, thereby stopping the country from defaulting next month.

Simon O'Connor, a spokesman for EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn, said in Brussels that an agreement was expected to be reached within days.

We are in the process of finishing with the Greek authorities the technical work on the last fiscal and structural measures on which we have to find agreement.

This should be possible in the coming days.

Greece needs the €31.5bn (£25.7bn) installment by mid-November to avoid bankruptcy.

13.39 The Eurostat figures that were out earlier (see 11.26) are bad news for Greece which has seen its debt to GDP for 2011estimated up to 170.6pc, from an estimate made in April of 165.3pc. The debt-laden country has the higest debt-to-GDP of any of the 17-nation bloc.

It's public deficit was also revised up, to an estimate of 9.4pc, up from 9.1pc.

12.32 Spain's banks should be fully capitalised by mid-2013, according to the European Union's anti-trust chief.

EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in the text of a speech to be delivered at a conference in Barcelona, that EU EU regulators would clear restructuring plans for nationalised lenders Bankia, Catalunya Caixa, Nova Caixa Galicia and Banco de Valencia by the end of November.

Almunia also said he expected a recapitalisation plan from Banco Popular by the end of this month.

The whole Spanish financial system will be fully capitalised by mid-2013 at the latest

12.26 Germany appears to be refuting everything today.

German news agency DPA is reporting that German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert has said Ireland won't enjoy exceptions to the European Stability Mechanism procedure, but said special circumstances are taken into account.

He added Ireland does not enjoy “special status” in the support of its banks.

Earlier today (see 08.59) Irish papers were reporting that Merkel had told Ireland's Taoiseach Enda Kenny that the country's bank debt is a "special case".

11.58 Germany has NOT warned Britain that it will cancel an EU summit on the bloc's long-term budget scheduled for next month if David Cameron threatens to veto the vote, Reuters is reporting.

Earlier today (see 8.20) the FT reported (it was their splash) that Merkel did not believe there is any point in holding the budget summit to agree on a seven-year framework for EU spending if Britain vetos any deal other than a total freeze on spending.

However, a spokesperson for Cameron said they had received no such warning and added that Britain did not see the case for increases in spending above the rate of inflation.

They haven't, no, they haven't said anything.

The prime minister set out his position on the budget on Friday in his press conference. He's made it clear he's willing to do a deal on the budget in November, so long as that is the right deal for British taxpayers.

The German government has also rejected the story in the FT.

11.42 Germany's central bank monthly report (see 10.30), aside from from forecasting a sharp downturn in the country, has also said that the ECB's measures to support countries swept into the euro zone crisis maelstrom are raising risks to the euro system's balance sheet and re-distributing them among taxpayers.

The more effectively monetary policy supports the financial systems of the crisis countries with its measures, the more risks are transferred to the balance sheet of the euro system and ultimately redistributed among all taxpayers of member countries.

11.26 Looking through that Eurostat data (see 10.47) 17 members of the EU had public deficits higher than the 3pc permitted by EU law in 2011. They were:

Ireland (-13.4pc), Greece and Spain (both -9.4pc), the United Kingdom (-7.8pc), Slovenia (-6.4pc), Cyprus (-6.3pc), Lithuania and Romania (both -5.5pc), France (-5.2pc), Poland (-5.0pc), Slovakia (-4.9pc), the Netherlands (-4.5pc), Portugal (-4.4pc), Italy (-3.9pc), Belgium (-3.7pc), Latvia (-3.4pc) and the Czech Republic (-3.3pc).

11.03 Another European Central Bank policymaker has backedGerman Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's idea for a eurozone commissioner with power over member nations' budgets and reform of European Parliament decision-making.

Joerg Asmussen said on Monday it would be a "good idea" to have a European Monetary Commissioner with special rights.

Yesterday fellow ECB policymaker Klaas Knot threw his support behind the German's idea. The Dutch man, whoi heads the Dutch Central Bank, said he "welcomed" the idea and said it should be considered "carefully".

10.47 The eurozone and European Union's debt hit a high in 2011, according to official figures out by Eurostat.

In the eurozone the government debt to GDP hit 87.3pc at the end of 2011, up from 85.4pc at the end of 2010, while the EU hit 82.5pc, up from 80pc.

It's not all doom and gloom though as the figures also showed that government deficit in the eurozone and EU had decreased. In the EU it fell to 4.1pc in 2011, from 6.2pc in 2010 and in the EU it fell to 4.4pc, from 6.5pc.

10.30 The eurozone's largest economy, Germany, has published a report today saying that its economy will see a sharp slowdown at the end of the year.

In the finance ministry report it said:

In the final quarter of 2012, growth is likely to slow substantially as economic weakness in a number of eurozone countries puts the brakes on growth

The forecast is backed up the drop in investor sentiment, as seen in the fifth consecutive monthly decrease in the ZEW's monthly confidence index.

Germany notched up growth of 0.5 percent in the first quarter and 0.3 percent in the second quarter.

Last week, the German government fractionally upgraded its growth forecast for the current year to 0.8 percent, but slashed its prognosis for next year to just 1.0 percent.

10.09 Meanwhile over in Greece, the prime minister Antonis Samaras has expelled lawmaker Nikos Stavrogiannis from his New Democracy party.

Stavrogiannis had told Greek weekly newspaper Real News that he would vote against austerity measures that the government is preparing.

His departure is spurring speculation that the debt-laden nation is closer to carrying out austerity measures.

09.50 Victory in Galicia for Rajoy's austerity measures has helped pushed the euro higher today. It is up 0.1pc at $1.3032 from a low of $1.3013

Meanwhile, the yen has been pushed to a three-month low against the dollar. The dollar rose around 0.4pc to 79.68 yen, its strongest since mid-July, on expectations for more economic stimulus from the Bank of Japan. Earlier today Japan posted its worst September trade figures in more than 30 years.

09.29 Yields on Spanish 10-year bonds have held steady following the two regional elections (see 08.15).

Spanish 10-year bond yields weree 2.4 basis points higher at 5.4pc, having fallen around half a point last week after Moody's held its rating of the country as investment grade.

Commenting on the win in Galicia for prime minster Mariano Rajoy, KBC strategist Piet Lammens said:

[The election result was] slightly positive for Spanish bonds, because it will give (Rajoy) more leeway to ask for a bailout.

If he had lost Galicia, he would have had more difficulties to sell such a move to his party and the population.

09.20 Last week the EU announced that its legal framework for a eurozone banking regulator would be in place by the end of this year and implemented during the course of 2014.

Well now Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of financial regulation, has said the European Commission will make a proposal next year on introducing a joint agency for shoring up or closing troubled banks.

He told reporters on monday that once the banking supervisor was in place, Europe will then move on to plans for a body to tackle banks in difficulty.

"The second stage is a proposal in 2013 for a European resolution agency," he said, adding this would have broad legal powers and work closely with national authorities.

08.59 Ireland is waking up to the news that Angela Merkel has said that the country's bank debt is a "special case".

After a flurry of phone calls between Dublin and Berlin all weekend, Ireland's Taoiseach Enda Kenny and German Chancellor Merkel issued a joint statement:

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke together this afternoon...They discussed the unique circumstances behind Ireland's banking and sovereign debt crisis, and Ireland's plans for a full return to the markets.

In this regard they reaffirmed the commitment from June 29th to task the Eurogroup to examine the situation of the Irish financial sector with a view to further improving the sustainability of the well performing adjustment programme.

They recognise in this context, that Ireland is a special case, and that the Eurogroup will take that into account.

It also comes as Mr Kenny travels to Paris in a bid to get President Hollande's support for more favourable terms on the mountain of debt.

Ms Merkel agreed there were "unique circumstances" behind Ireland's bank and state debt crisis and said measures to ease the debt burden would be examined.

The joint statement does not bring a bank deal tangibly closer, but Ireland will view it as strengthening its position.

08.40 Some 6,000 miles away Japan has posted its worst September trade figures in more than 30 year.

Official data showed on Monday, that the world's third-largest economy has been struggling to turn around its fortunes following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, while also suffering from Europe's debt crisis, slowing Chinese demand and the strong yen

08.20 The FT is reporting that Germany is planning to warn Britain that it will seek to cancel next month’s European budget summit if David Cameron, the prime minister, insists that he will veto any deal other than a total freeze on spending.

Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel does not believe there is any point in holding the budget summit to agree on a seven-year framework for EU spending if Britain intends to veto any deal, say people close to the negotiations.

08.15 On Sunday, there were two regional elections in Spain.

Spain’s ruling conservative party has held on to control in regional elections in Galicia, giving a boost to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he pushes on with tough austerity measures, even as nationalist parties triumphed in the Basque Country.

The elections in two of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions on Sunday were seen as the first real test for Mr Rajoy’s Popular Party after ten months in power that have seen a deeply unpopular programme of public spending cuts and tax hikes.

Catharsis Ours

Monday, October 22, 2012

Overnight Summary from Zero Hedge - news from Europe , economic data from Europe and Asia . The Telegraph liveblog highlights on another clear as mud day.

"First, God Made Idiots. That Was Just For Practice. Then He Made Politicians"

BREAKING….Troika, Greeks reach austerity agreement

Overnight Summary: Same Confusion, Different Day

No comments:

Post a Comment