by James

Over the last week, I have been travelling – to London and Monaco – to meet with investors and commentators to discuss the ongoing crises, both global and local. This post summarises my experiences and thoughts. Summary > Global financial community is in shock. > Central Banks have done most of what is needed, now [...]

by Gregory

Before  the FOMC committee gathered this morning, no one was expecting a “no move” from the Fed given the last economic indicators (see here) and the ongoing money market squeeze. Would another cut really help the economy ?  Maybe not much and certainly not on a short-term basis.  Would 25bp compared to 50bp really matter for the money and stock markets [...]

by James

The capitulation continues. The US is marking new lows, and there is no clear sign where it will stop. However, at least on Friday it did not plunge headlong into the abyss like other markets did. What explains the latest round of selling? Risk aversion, de-levering, carry-trade reversal and economic fears. The S&P 500 dropped [...]

by Jürgen

On Oct 23rd, the European Consumers Organisation BEUC surveyed 27 countries across the EU on the energy markets, to assess whether liberalised European energy markets are really working better for consumers. Beyond the consumer’s position, the results confirm the general tendencies and corporate habits described previously on MM. So does the market, despite the financial crisis…

by Dino

You’ve heard it many times this month (indeed, this year See our February 23 post by the same title as this one): stocks are cheap. This is due to the naive and dangerous belief that if stocks are down some 10% from the previous high (or the previous week, as it were) they must be [...]

by Gregory

Since August 07, stock markets have been facing a sharp correction all over the world, or as David Viniar, CFO of Goldman Sachs put it: “We are seeing things that were 25-standard deviation events, several days in a row”. In a “normal” world, the ‘25-standard deviation event’ is something that only happens once every 100,000 years [...]

by James

The Russian equity market has been making the news for a few months now, not least on this blog. Well it might, the key indexes dropped more than 70% from their May peaks. Russia is marginally impacted by the global credit crisis, but certainly not to this extent. What is going on? There are several [...]

by Jürgen

After last week’s EU summits, the plans for a Bretton Woods 2 in New York in November, and quite some tension on the European Climate Plan, be prepared for a promising week on the energy level.

With the European Biomarine convention in Toulon & Marseilles, and the meeting of the Environment Council in Luxembourg, energy & environment is crealy on the agenda. Especially the latter promises to be a big test for the European will power. Will we keep the decisions taken earlier in January, or will we try to shift to a restyled European uni sono?