by James

Today’s FT contains an interesting article Dr Doom Nouriel Roubini. In it, he conducts a clearly reasoned case for Greece to restructure its debt. While much of what he says is fair and accurate, he has once again gone for broke, and soiled his otherwise professional image with a misleading and alarmist comparison to Argentina. The [...]

by James

Anyone who only caught the Friday session could be forgiven for thinking it was a bad week. As Chart 2 (below) shows, Friday was a deep red, with panic selling as European markets closed and a significant red print on the US too. But, these are volatile times we live in, as Chart 1 shows [...]

by James

What a difference a day makes. The bull run we have been accurately mapping out was nicely on track, with the S&P 500 up 1.4% on Thursday night, ahead of Google, GE and Bank of America earnings. These delivered, and seemed suited only to boost the market further. But, something was clearly amiss on Friday [...]

by James

When the Vix Index is below 20 and the media is blaming a surprise move in Indian interest rates for a rise in risk aversion, something looks wrong. Smoke and mirrors is an expression that comes to mind. When I was first studying finance, I remember hearing about how traders create volatility. That may be [...]

by James

The mood stayed broadly positive throughout the last week, There were some interesting dynamics and Friday’s close left something for everyone. The S&P 500 stopped at 1,149.99, just a hair’s breadth off its January high, which it had briefly stepped through in trading earlier in the session. The bears might say we’ve kissed the line [...]

by James

On 4 February, the global financial community was enthralled with Europe’s Greek Economic play. On a quieter side stage, Lithuania gave a little performance of its own. As debt markets burned, it issued $2 bln of ten year bonds. Optimists can claim a great victory. In that week a raft of IPOs were pulled globally [...]

by James

The FT’s Long Room is a place where investment professional and journalists exchange information and views on a broad variety of topics. It is a great place to find a depth on a variety of topics. This week it ran what it describes as “purportedly” an official Goldman piece on Greece. This is a missive [...]

by James

The latest developments in the sphere of financial services regulation offer a mixture of hope and concern. The most important shift is positive though – G7 governments have demonstrated an understanding of the need for coordination. National regulations and interests have drifted somewhat since the UK taxed banks for paying outsized bonuses, and the US [...]