June 3rd, 2010 |
Published in
Asia, China, Economy, Europe, Financial Knowledge, Investment Advice, Singapore, U.S.A. | Add a comment
May has been a volatile month. Europe’s sovereign debt risks and tensions in Korean Peninsular weighs down heavily on the financial markets while economic data has shown that the recovery is underway.
Europe
Speculation and intense debate on 2 issues, whether Greece will be forced to default and whether Euro will lose some of its weaker member countries has died down a little. However, things are still not certain a month after attacks lead to a trillion dollar bailout package. Euro skeptics say the forced spending cuts and tax increases will scuttle a recovery before it takes hold. The fiscal austerity measures will be a big drag on growth. Spain lost its AAA credit grade at Fitch Ratings, dropping one step to AA+ to a “stable” outlook.
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May 13th, 2010 |
Published in
Economy, Europe, Financial Knowledge | Add a comment
You will have heard me mention the Greek sovereign debt problem before. In February, this issue has been weighing down the markets somewhat pending a response from European Central Bank. Last Thursday, a serious contagion forced ECB to response seriously with a huge EUR750 billion safety net to arrest the fiscal crisis and stop the turmoil from spreading to the other 15 nations that use the euro.
Markets have been really volatile last 2 weeks due to this issue, other issues like China’s property prices and inflation do not help in calming the market. Main story goes, after the drop last week, traders and investors gave positive response and the markets for fixed income, equity and Euro rebounded on Monday, a day after hard fought European lifeline.
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February 16th, 2010 |
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Europe, Financial Knowledge | Add a comment
Greece and her budget problems has been in the news for some time now. The issued started way back in 1999.
Greece, which had an increasing budget deficit (where spending is higher than income) that cause it to fail the criteria for joining the single European currency in 1999, joined the euro in 2001. Member nations must keep deficits at less than 3 percent of GDP and trim national debt to less than 60 percent of GDP under the pact.
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