Investors should be cautiously optimistic on China and the U.S., but expect scant positive news out of the Eurozone.
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus, having taken global markets on a vertiginous ride, struck a €10bn ($13bn) bailout deal over the weekend. And as fears of the Eurozone trundling into another banking crisis subsided, equity market rally picked up right where it left off, reports FT.com. Nicosia, the nation’s capital, is pushing for legislation that […]
An ECB ultimatum has forced government officials in Cyprus into restructuring its banking sector, reports FT.com.
The proposed bailout deal that would see Cypriots’ bank accounts taking a 6.75% to 9.9% haircut has sent shockwaves through world markets and caused the euro to lose 0.7%.
Overweight China and Asia. Underweight Europe. Neutral on Japan.
European industry is reeling from the impact of the strong euro. The worst hit are the sectors that do business mainly in a foreign currency and exporters who are losing their competitive advantage due to a stronger home currency, reports FT.com. Although below its 2007 peak, the euro has gained 7% against the dollar and […]
The Eurozone’s fragile economic recovery hit another bump as official data for the fourth quarter of 2012 show a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter contraction. This is the fastest rate at which the bloc has shrunk since the 2008 crash, deepening the region’s recession, reports FT.com As a result, the euro, whose recent gains fuelled worries about the […]
Businesses across the Eurozone are compensating for the slack in the banking sector by piling into the bond market. Debt issuance has seen a record start to the year as businesses cut back their reliance on ailing banks for loans, reports FT.com. Weak bank lending to the region’s businesses and households has been fuelling concern […]
Last week’s accusations of Spanish government corruption and news of Italian election uncertainty should remind investors that despite last year’s European Central Bank assertion that it would do ‘whatever it takes’ to preserve the Euro, significant Eurozone risks remain just below the surface.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada and Christine Lagarde, managing director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), among others at the 43rd World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, have sounded a cautionary note about the fragile nature of the global economic recovery even if it faces fewer challenges this year, says a World Economic Forum news […]