The collapse of the global stockmarkets, with European bourses falling 10 percent or more over the past month, is a cry for help to the central banks to ‘do something’, namely provide more stimulus to the economy. One of these voices is Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund Bridgewater, who said that the Federal Reserve needs to start printing money again to boost markets.
Francesco Saraceno | The EMU policy debate in the past few months kept revolving around monetary policy. Just this morning I read a Financial Times report on the never ending struggle between hawks and doves within the ECB. I am all for continued monetary stimulus. It cannot hurt. But there is only so much monetary policy can do in a liquidity trap. I said it many times in the past (I am in very good company, by the way), and nothing so far proved me wrong.
Many people feared that the outcome of the December 20 elections in Spain would be difficult to manage. But the final situation is much worse than expected. As soon as the recount began after the voting, the conservatives of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP) lost their hopes of forming a majority government with Citizens (Ciudadanos). Spain is now, undeniably, facing a period of difficult coalition-building after yesterday’s elections. And this is a very worrisome situation for the country as uncertainty is likely to increase, affecting the mood of investors and companies.
Chitra Subramaniam | The very talented Swiss artist Patrick Chapatte’s 2006 cartoon to mark the start of the international climate talks in Nairobi in November 2006 could well have been repeated for the recently concluded climate talks in Paris. Nobody is quite sure what was achieved, but everyone is relieved that talks didn’t crash.
The market has already priced in that the ECB will adopt new monetary stimulus measures at tomorrow’s meeting, which in theory should boost growth and inflation in the eurozone. Analysts agree that more aggressive measures are necessary, but due care must be taken not to damage financial stability.
One of the main reasons that Alexis Tsipras wanted to hold elections as soon as possible after agreeing the third bailout in August was that it gave him the best chance of obtaining a fresh mandate before the impact of the latest set of fiscal measures was felt by the average voter.
A new round of mergers amongst Spanish banks could just be round the corner. The Bank of Spain has also added its voice to the market rumours, the “off the record” comments from bank directors and the warnings from international organisations about the sector’s delicate health.
Jens Bastian via Macropolis | The 49 prior and pending actions that have to be adopted by the Greek government by mid-October in order for urgently needed financial assistance to be released are a work in progress taking place under severe time constraints.
What really shocked the markets was not the Fed’s decision to maintain zero interest rates for a few more months, but the statement that accompanied it.
ATHENS | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | Working out how Alexis Tsipras went from anti-austerity crusader to comfortably winning an election while promising to implement the third bailout, and in the process turning a resounding “No” in the July referendum to a humiliating “Yes” a week later, is something that political scientists will study for years to come.