The ECB Is Tightening Into a Fiscal Problem
The European Central Bank still has an inflation problem. It now also has a bond-market problem. Euro-area inflation is approaching 4%, well above the ECB’s...
Tag: Italy
When Debt Becomes Sovereign Again
Italy is considering buying back MTS, the main wholesale trading platform for Italian government bonds, from Euronext. At first sight, this looks like a relatively...
The Euro Is Becoming Europe’s Risk Premium
The euro is no longer simply falling because the dollar is strong. It is falling because Europe is becoming more expensive to trust. The single...
Europe Has an Inflation Problem, a Debt Problem and Now a Currency Problem
Europe’s problems are no longer arriving one at a time. They are beginning to reinforce each other. The euro has fallen to its lowest level...
Europe’s Strategic Folly Comes Due
Europe is once again discovering that moral postures are not an energy policy. For years, the continent congratulated itself on its virtue, mistaking dependency for...
Euro area: Oil, War and the Return of Inflation
Inflation in the euro area has chosen the worst possible moment to reawaken. In February, consumer prices rose by 1.9% year-on-year, up from 1.7% in...
France: The New Sick Man of Eurozone Debt?
French government bonds slipped further behind their Iberian cousins on Monday, after Fitch Ratings saw fit to remind markets that political chaos in Paris has...
Is a downgrade of Italian debt possible?
This week, a possible downgrade of Italy would sound like a bad omen for the Eurozone. Moody’s believes that the country presents a “substantial credit...
A slump in the Eurozone economy
Growth barely increased in the second quarter, with GDP only rising by 0.1%, as opposed to the initial estimate of 0.3% at the end of...