The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy has not yet been tallied in its entirety; in addition to those who lost their lives and their houses, there are those who still haven’t returned home to assess the damage. In addition to destruction of personal property, the public landmarks, transportation systems and foliage that was destroyed is…
Towards the Eurogroup conference call on Wednesday, reports have emerged that the finance ministers will approve extending the primary surplus targets by two years. In addition, talks between Greece and the troika have come to a positive conclusion that will enable a disbursement of the next tranche of aid Greece needs so badly in order to…
Italy had a very successful bond auction: it paid an average yield of 4.92% for 10 year bonds. This is lower than the previous auction that saw 5.24% and the best since May 30th 2011, when the euro-zone’s third largest economy paid only 4.73%. EUR/USD is on the rise within the range, but is limited…
EUR/USD was marked by thin trading yesterday (October 29th), as Hurricane Sandy made landfall and slammed the US northeast coast, causing major floods and severe damage in its wake. Over in Europe, the ongoing crises in Greece and Spain continue to unnerve the markets. Media reports that a deal has been reached between the Greek government…
Another day, another dose of bad news from the euro-zone. Spain reported that its economy contracted by 0.3% in Q3, and 1.6% year over year. While this was somewhat better than -0.4% that was expected, it still is a fourth consecutive quarter of contraction, or a fifth that doesn’t see growth. Germany disappointed once again…
Dollar/yen took a big dive of 50 pips from nearly 80 to below 79.50 after the decision by the Bank of Japan was released. The BOJ enlarged the quantitative easing program by 11 trillion yen. Official expectations stood on 10 trillion, but expectations have risen considerably towards the event, pushing the yen higher. Read the…
EUR/USD is under pressure after hopes for announcement of a deal between Greece and the troika were dashed. There were reports last week that an agreement had been hammered out, which would have allowed Greece to receive the next installment of aid. However, no agreement has yet been finalized, as the impasse looks likely to continue into November. After some disappointing releases…
Negotiations in Greece are going nowhere – there are significant disagreements on labor laws and there are also differences within each side. The troika refuses to make any concessions on labor laws. An unconfirmed report about PASOK joining Democratic Left in its stance against labor reforms raises worries that the government in Athens could fall.…
