What happened to the Euro/EU armageddon?

drc

Not heard or read anything in the news for a week or so now about the cliffhanger situation of the Euro/EU. Can I assume that the powers that be (Merkel/Sarkozy/EU overlords) have put the armageddon on hold whilst they celebrate Christmas/New Year? Will the SHTF in earnest come January?

withabix

Didn't you know, you can't have a financial meltdown when the banks (and parliaments) are closed ???

michaels

BBC today, Italian 10 year yields still above 7% :eek:

However the Italian govt are able to borrow short as whilst the ECB is not bailing them out by buying their bonds they are allowing banks who buy their bonds to post them as collateral for extremely cheap borrowing hence the sharp fall in Italian short term borrowing costs. IT should be clearly understood that this is NOT the ECB supporting govt bonds and given the scheme last for 3 years in no way could it be thought of as 'kicking the can down the road'...

A._Badger

Market shifts are dependent on sentiment. At Christmas even the most voracious of wolves get misty-eyed and occupied elsewhere.

The collapse was always pencilled in for the New Year.

vivatifosi

I was wondering if the can that was perpetually being kicked down the road had accidentally been picked up by a euro-recycler.

sabretoothtigger

Italy has a ton of debt at auction at this month end I think. Ive lost the reference but they also held a confidence vote recently, I guess to try and clear investors doubts


To me Im looking at USA as next target more then really caring about the EURO. That equal worry should bring balance of some sort

Mr_Mumble

Governments don't raise cash in mid-late December and Greece was quietly bunged an extra £8bn of IMF/EU money (note: no longer yours sucker!) in the middle of December so the politicans could have a quiet holiday period.

Ian_W

withabix wrote: »

Didn't you know, you can't have a financial meltdown when the banks (and parliaments) are closed ???

Sounds like a plan - have you told Merkozzzy?

What? They can't keep banks, markets and parliaments closed. Why ever not, they can change governments if they don't like them!!

Wookster

It seems the last summit might have provided a temporary solution with the ECB providing unlimited liquidity to banks, who will might in turn use that funding to purchase government bonds.

This hinges on banks willingness to keep buying government debt.

Similarly it doesn't address the competitiveness problems in Southern Europe.

Graham_Devon

Wookster wrote: »

It seems the last summit might have provided a temporary solution with the ECB providing unlimited liquidity to banks, who will might in turn use that funding to purchase government bonds.

This hinges on banks willingness to keep buying government debt.

Similarly it doesn't address the competitiveness problems in Southern Europe.

It doesn't really address any problems. It's just more debt at the end of the day. More debt to cure a debt problem.

Does give markets and politicians something else to concentrate on however, and the political nonsense over the past few weeks has been an excellent diversion from the real problems.

wellused

What happens to French banks etc who hold so much Greek debt as I read that the Greeks just aren't getting on with even the very basic austerity measures that the Germans prescribed for them?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,805975,00.html