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ECB

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Markets 7th December 2011

Market reaction to S&P’s EZ and EFSF downgrade warning better than expected

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Ratings agency S&P’s threat of downgrading the euro zone and the EFSF has fallen like a ton of bricks among leaders and European institutions. Santander analysts believe, however, that it has also been accepted with a certain degree of realism: “The German Minister of finance, Schäuble, commented that the warning is the best incentive to promote a solution to the crisis and regain the confidence…

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Markets 25th November 2011

Morgan Stanley: “French, Italian banks lead ECB lending demand”

The Spanish investment website Consenso del Mercado published on Friday this revealing note and table from Morgan Stanley about the ECB loans. “The deterioration of the euro zone crisis makes very difficult the necessary deleveraging process, which is estimated at €1.5 to 2.5tr during the next 18-24 months. The ECB lendings have reached two-year record highs with French and Italian banks being the ones that increased their demand the most. “Limited…

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Markets 18th November 2011

JP Morgan: “France-Germany spread is the highest of all times”

On Thursday Spain had to pay 6.975% interest to borrow money at 10 years: a spread of 480bp against the German rate. It is the highest rate Spain has had to pay since it became part of the euro zone. However, analysts at JP Morgan remarked that France’s differential compared to Germany’s “is not only the highest since the euro exists, but the highest of all time.” On the other…

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In Europe 17th November 2011

“Germany must allow the ECB to inject €3tr”, says Morgan Stanley

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The shared understanding between Berlin and Paris, that is, between chancellor Angela Merkel and president Nicolas Sarkozy, has suffered a breakdown for the first time since the euro crisis began. The reason is their different views on what role the European Central Bank (ECB) should be playing for the euro crisis to find a way out. While France defends giving the European Financial Stability…

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Markets 26th October 2011

ECB’s nefarious attitude: Mr Wolf is right

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | In case you needed tangible proof of the harmful role the ECB played in the crisis, in the FT, Martin Wolf writes an open letter to Trichet’s imminent successor to the presidency of the ECB, Mario Draghi. The letter is an excellent article that convincingly explains why the ECB should stabilize the debt markets of solvent countries such as Italy and Spain, which are the…

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Markets 26th October 2011

ECB's nefarious attitude: Mr Wolf is right

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | In case you needed tangible proof of the harmful role the ECB played in the crisis, in the FT, Martin Wolf writes an open letter to Trichet’s imminent successor to the presidency of the ECB, Mario Draghi. The letter is an excellent article that convincingly explains why the ECB should stabilize the debt markets of solvent countries such as Italy and Spain, which are the…