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A note on Banzai Bonds

27 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:14 UTC

Yesterday, leading rating agency Standard & Poor's maintained its credit rating for Japan at AA-. And although the state of public finance should give some reason for concern, S&P nevertheless is quite confident that Japan's future current account will be sufficient in the black in order to absorb the domestic funding needs. Well, it used to be like that but ...

POSTCARD FROM EM: How much do YOU know about Emerging Markets?

32 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:58 UTC

Take our 1st Econopolis multiple choice QUIZ on Emerging Markets to test your knowledge. The answers are down below. If you?re up to it, take the Bonus Round as well. Have fun ...

Bejing weekend press coverage : Monetary Pre-empt ?

27 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:54 UTC

We have had a lot of press coverage over the weekend and it wasn't solely restricted to the sovereign debt crisis over Greece and EMU. In fact, most news sources gave considerable ...

Hebben we de trein gemist?

42 — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:04 UTC

Wie naar de beursgrafieken kijkt en overschouwt wat er de laatste maanden gebeurde, zou zich misschien vertwijfeld in de haren kunnen krabben en denken dat de aandelen zonder hem of ...

Once upon a time....trains

27 — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:12 UTC

Once upon a time, a certain dialogue unfolded between the man with the harmonica and his welcome committee somewhere at a nowhere junction railway station : "Did you bring a horse for me ?" - "No, looks like we are shy 1 horse" - "No, you brought 2 too many". One of the most brilliant "slow" opening scenes in the history of motion ...

"We don't wish to make a profit" & preparing for "clean" cuts

27 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:13 UTC

In the ongoing saga on Greece and the Troika, again a meeting is deferred on whether or not extra money will be granted towards Athens. And the language becomes more harsh by the : "Wealthier countries are playing with fire by toying with the idea Greece should be expelled from the EMU-17 area". "There are plenty who don't want us ...

POSTCARD FROM ASIA - INDIA'S ROAD AHEAD

32 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:28 UTC

As some of you may know, I have spent a year in India from mid ?93 to mid ?94. At the time, I obtained my Post Graduate Diploma in Management at Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar (XIMB), the capital of the eastern Indian state called Orissa. Almost 20 years later, I am still filled with colourful memories and ...

POSTCARD FROM SINGAPORE - WATER

32 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:51 UTC

Over the weekend, I was reading an article in the International Herald Tribune which was titled "From toilets to taps", highlighting the rising worldwide water scarcity problems. You may or may not be aware that every year on March 22nd the International World Water Day is held as a means of ...

Basel - Frankfurt : 0 - 5

27 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:16 UTC

Before turning to our little soccer game - which the Swiss supervisors apparently seem to be losing - we like to turn one more time to what is happening over in Frankfurt. After the successful LTRO of last December (489 bio EUR cash injection into banks), a new round of auctioning is heating up for 29/02. And it seems we are gonna ...

US housing market moves in mysterious ways

27 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:24 UTC

This week we were surprised by two stories on the US housing market and more specifically on one of its less appealing features : home foreclosures. A first story line focused on the amount of legal mistakes made by banks during foreclosure processing. This became known as the robo-signing scandal, or the practice of a bank ...

Friday (less) Funny : Buy or Sell, Dead or Alive !

27 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:51 UTC

Determination, perseverance, focus. Basic ingredients for success, so the story goes. If you really want something badly, how far are you willing to lift the game ? I once experienced it in a different way when 12 years ago, I was "short" in the market by accident. Meaning I sold something which was not in my possession although I ...

Alternatieve (bio)energie, wordt het ooit wat?

42 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:01 UTC

Over alternatieve energie bestaan de meest uiteenlopende opvattingen, afhankelijk van de bron.Om te beginnen moeten we duidelijke definities hanteren en alles in de juiste context plaatsen.

The Bernanke critics are wrong ?

27 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:20 UTC

The answer is "yes", that is if you read today's main article on Bloomberg. The main story line being : "The criticism about the FED being inflationary is not fact-based. Unemployment is slightly improving but far from inflationary levels. And though several republican presidential candidates are claiming Mr Bernanke is the most ...

OFF TO SINGAPORE !

32 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:56 UTC

I'm heading off to Singapore later this week. I'll be staying there almost a month, mostly talking to companies, meeting up with local contacts and analysts, but also visiting some Belgian businesspeople who have been living and working in the region for quite some time. My first visit to Singapore dates back to 1994. I had just ...

Friday Fun : When Hayek meets the Indignados

27 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:34 UTC

Back in 1977, the first indignados were called punks. Rebels with or without a cause, whatever. Most famous of them all were the Sex Pistols, in fact a commercial joke from Malcolm McLaren and boy did Johnny "Rotten" Lydon make money out of it ! Of course releasing "God save the Queen" on her Majesty's Silver Jubilee helped a bit ...

De krekel en de mier, wie heeft er het laatst plezier?

42 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:07 UTC

Dit oude sprookje kennen we haast allemaal, we herinneren ons vast en zeker het idyllische plaatje uit onze kindertijd. Een hard werkende mier die de ganse dag eten versjouwt en opbergt in haar ondergrondse verblijfplaats, terwijl de krekel in de zon ligt te fluiten en te zingen dat het een plezier is om te horen. Het laatste ...

The new green revolution that will feed the world

32 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:43 UTC

Today, around 3.5 billion people will sit down to a meal of something and rice. The ?something? will depend on whether it?s Jamaica, Shanghai or Kerala, but rice is one of the world?s constants. It is a staple food for nearly half the globe and provides a fifth of all the calories humanity consumes. It is hard to overstate its ...

Damaged collateral

27 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:59 UTC

The LTRO operation of late December by the ECB has relieved some tensions on money markets and bank funding cost in the short term. Indeed, libor spreads have come in considerably while certain government bonds have had a serious rally versus the core led by Bund. It doesn't stop quite there and the ECB is preparing another set of ...

Lucky shamrock performing Irish miracle escape ?

27 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:03 UTC

For once we have some good news to report, a glimmer of hope. Last week, Ireland managed to come to the international bond market on which it made a partial buy-back of existing debt (2014) and managed to roll it over into 2015 @ 4,9%. And it was a success with an announcement of more buy-backs in the pipeline. The Irish drama and ...

Friday Fun : Have a laugh and jump into the abyss !

27 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:57 UTC

Remember those pre-2007 days ? We were all happy, lending ourselves rich, stock market was booming, sky was the limit and life was ahead of us. Unfortunately things turned out quite differently. But nevertheless, it seems that even important policy makers, being faced with difficult choices, had a great laugh too. We picked up the ...

Gas: een investeringsparadox?

42 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:08 UTC

Als er de voorbije jaren één opvallende zaak was in het investeringspatroon van de olie- en gas producerende bedrijven, dan is het dat er miljarden werden en nog steeds worden geïnvesteerd in gas, niet in het minst in het zgn. shale gas. Als gevolg hiervan besteden de beleggersmedia veel aandacht aan bedrijven zoals BG, Chesapeake ...

FED and 5 year "risk free" heading to 0% boundery

27 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:02 UTC

May you live in interesting times", so goes the English translation of a Chinese curse/proverb. And indeed we live in interesting times because the FOMC yesterday decided to shift the outlook on a 0% short term rate from 2013 to at least 2014. And at the same time, the FED made some choices on explicit ...

On the IMF, sprints, marathons and hybrids

27 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:24 UTC

A funny string of recent events have captured my attention. And it involves the IMF and politics. May be far fetched but a warning as well towards various addressees, either politically, economically or both. And the IMF is balancing here on a thin line judging the noises we are recently hearing.First of all there was Christine ...

Dear Mr(s) Credit Rator, Part II

27 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:18 UTC

In my previous posting dd 16/01, I forgot to mention some important leverage factors as well. I therefore take the privilege to give you an update with new numbers, taken from a very recent McKinsey study on global debt and debt deleveragingThe following chart gives you the facts on the composition of total debt across main ...