Markets were soaring in Asia, Europe, the US, everywhere. Spanish stocks skyrocketed 5.7% and Greek stocks 7.5%. Let the good times roll. The euro jumped to the highest level in two weeks. Yields on Spanish bonds fell off a cliff, with the 10-year benchmark down from over 7% to 6.38%, the lowest since, well, Monday. A miracle had happened. Chancellor Angela Merkel had blinked. Um, a little bit.
Europe
The Long Memory of “The Sick Man of Europe”
by Wolf Richter • • 3 Comments
It’s astounding how distorted the coverage of Germany in the Eurozone bailout scheme has been—at least in the English-speaking mainstream media. Time after time, we’re confronted with the inanest headlines that place Chancellor Angela Merkel and her fellow politicians on some kind of invisible verge where they will suddenly, and under tremendous international pressure, come to their senses and … blink.
Cyprus and the EU: Bitter Medicine
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cyprus and the EU: Bitter Medicine
In Cyprus, it’s panic time. €1.8 billion is needed by June 30. That’s just the beginning. Its banks have been eviscerated by Greek government bonds, Greek corporate debt, a real estate bubble that collapsed, and a title-deed scandal that they colluded in. It has a communist president and vast deposits of natural gas. Russia and China hover nearby. And it points out, unwittingly, why no country should ever do what the EU Summit will focus on: transfer even more sovereignty to the EU.
The EU Summit To Save the Euro Has Already Collapsed
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The EU Summit To Save the Euro Has Already Collapsed
During the two-day EU summit on June 28 and 29, all eyes will be breathlessly riveted on German Chancellor Angela Merkel—with one question on all lips: will she blink? Because nothing less than the future of the Eurozone and the euro is at stake. And by extension, the world economy. Only she can save it. And she’d have only 48 hours!
The Extortion Racket Shifts To Italy
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
One thing Greek politicians have taught other European leaders: fear mongering for the purpose of extortion is the way to go. It might not work, and it might be counterproductive, and it might destroy confidence in the economy and give investors goose bumps and blow up markets, and it might cause spooked consumers to hold back on purchases and worried businesses to freeze hiring plans, thus exacerbating the situation, but it’s nevertheless the way to go.
“You Can Lose Freedom Only Once”
by Wolf Richter • • 6 Comments
Poor Angela Merkel. The beleaguered German Chancellor just can’t catch a break. She has already committed hundreds of billions of taxpayer euros to bailing out collapsing countries. In return, she wants them to live within their means and restructure their economies so that the bailouts wouldn’t have to continue ad inifinitum. For that, she joins the Axis of Evil. And then the Swiss Minister of Defense speaks up.
François Hollande on Collision Course with … France
by Wolf Richter • • 3 Comments
During the French presidential election, it became clear that François Hollande would try to align other Eurozone countries, particularly Italy and Spain, into a southern front against German Chancellor Angela Merkel—to fix the problems of the Eurozone à la française. Now that he has won the election, he has set out on his pre-charted collision course with Germany. And yet, a revolt is brewing at home: “We fear a programmed strangling.”
The G-20 Farce to Save The Eurozone From Collapse
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The G-20 Farce to Save The Eurozone From Collapse
The G-20 summit last November in Cannes, France, was all about bailing out Greece, and it turned into a fiasco. Now at the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, tiny Greece is still front and center, but the summit has been escalated: it would be about bailing out the entire Eurozone and its currency. And President Obama made his agenda clear: he wanted everybody else to do “what’s necessary to stabilize the world financial system.”
Relying on Fake German Strength
by Wolf Richter • • 6 Comments
While we’re sitting on the edge of our chairs, waiting breathlessly for the Greek election, or for Fate to swallow Greece and send financial Armageddon over the Eurozone, stock markets rallied. Not because of a sudden plethora of good economic news, but in anticipation of how central banks might react to the Greek vote—that’s how far this farce has come! As if sheer artificial liquidity could wash away the putrid odor of decomposing debt.
Greece in Panic … um, Wait!
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
“If Greece doesn’t get its next loan installment, the Eurozone will collapse the following day,” scowled Alexis Tsipras, leader of the left-wing SYRIZA. By threatening the entire Eurozone with its demise, if he won the election, he ratcheted up the bailout extortion racket a few more notches. So the run on the banks turned into panic, and Eurozone heads of state, who’re already on edge, threatened in return. Everything is coming to a head.