Europe may already have passed its biggest stress test. The euro has rallied 8 percent from a four-year low last month. Greece, Spain and Portugal have managed to sell 50 billion euros ($64 billion) of debt since May 10 when the need to save the single currency forced finance ministers to create a nearly $1 [...]

debt, Euro, greece, IMF, Risk Management, stress test Hide

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said he’ll raise taxes on banks and savers, while cutting welfare spending in a budget tomorrow that aims to close a record deficit without strangling an economic rebound. Osborne said yesterday the “pain” of the biggest spending squeeze in 30 years will be spread over the Parliament’s five- year [...]

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On Friday the new Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, warned that the country must control its national debt or risk defaulting. This comes after this week’s interesting advertisement, placed in Japanese magazines by the Ministry of Finance, which attempts to use sex to sell government bonds. Click here for Japan’s full advertisement. Why the push to [...]

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European banking shares indicate a Greek debt default may be just a matter of time. Investors have already pushed down financial stocks enough to imply the “erosion” in book value that may result from losses tied to a sovereign debt restructuring, said Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London. A Bloomberg index of [...]

debt, Euro Zone, global markets, greece, investments, Portugal Hide

President Barack Obama is poised to increase the U.S. debt to a level that exceeds the value of the nation’s annual economic output, a step toward what Bill Gross called a “debt super cycle.” The CHART OF THE DAY tracks U.S. gross domestic product and the government’s total debt, which rose past $13 trillion for the first [...]

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European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithnerdiverged on prescriptions to sustain growth, with Europe set to tighten budgets and the U.S. seeking stronger domestic demand. The impact of narrower budget gaps “on growth could not be considered negative because it would improve confidence,” Trichet told reporters yesterday after meeting with Group [...]

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Investor Jim Rogers said Europe’s bailout of indebted nations to overcome the sovereign-debt crisis is just “another nail in the coffin” for the euro as higher spending increases the region’s debt. The 16-nation currency weakened for a second day against the dollar after rallying as much as 2.7 percent on May 10, when the governments of [...]

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Money markets and the cost of protecting bank bonds from losses show investors are concerned the almost $1 trillion rescue plan announced by European leaders may not be enough to contain the region’s sovereign debt crisis. The Markit iTraxx Financial Index of credit-default swaps on 20 European banks was last at 130.5 basis points compared [...]

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March 30 (Bloomberg) — Greek seven-year notes fell in the first day of trading and an auction of 12-year bonds garnered demand for less than half the debt offered on concern Europe’s most indebted nation will keep struggling to fund itself. The drop drove yields on the 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) of seven-year notes [...]

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Subprime-mortgage securities are rising at an accelerating pace as the U.S. begins to encourage reductions to homeowners’ balances, which may lead to fewer foreclosures and a quicker end to the housing slump. A Markit ABX index of credit-default swaps tied to 20 subprime-loan bonds rated AAA when created in the first half of 2006 climbed 3.2 [...]

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