Crosswords0 min ago
Missing Headlines
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After Italy's sucessful bond auction their cost of borrowing is now down to just over 3% half the previous rate.
The Express and the Mail who have been so quick to offer the latest hottest news on the imminant collapse of the Euro seem to have been strangely slow to bring this good news to the world.
We had stories of emergency plans to stem a flood of migrants with the collapsing currency , and how this was a crucial test of the Italian economy
Now nothing?
Why should this be?
You don't suppose they are biased and just report the news they like do you?
Ah well I guess they can always take a leaf out of the American Preacher whose end of the world prophesy failed and tell everybody it'll just be delayed another 6 months
The Express and the Mail who have been so quick to offer the latest hottest news on the imminant collapse of the Euro seem to have been strangely slow to bring this good news to the world.
We had stories of emergency plans to stem a flood of migrants with the collapsing currency , and how this was a crucial test of the Italian economy
Now nothing?
Why should this be?
You don't suppose they are biased and just report the news they like do you?
Ah well I guess they can always take a leaf out of the American Preacher whose end of the world prophesy failed and tell everybody it'll just be delayed another 6 months
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how are the Germans doing? Last I heard, even their bond auctions were producing borrowing rates that were higher than the cost of borrowing £1 to feed a parking meter.
The FT's report of the full day isn't quite so optimistic:
"The successful auction of €9bn of six-month bills – sold at an average yield of 3.25 per cent, down from a euro-era record of 6.5 per cent last month – brought some relief early on Wednesday to Italy’s bond market, the world’s third largest. But in thin trading, Italian bonds and the euro came under selling pressure in the afternoon, leaving Rome’s benchmark borrowing costs stuck above the crucial 7 per cent level."
The FT's report of the full day isn't quite so optimistic:
"The successful auction of €9bn of six-month bills – sold at an average yield of 3.25 per cent, down from a euro-era record of 6.5 per cent last month – brought some relief early on Wednesday to Italy’s bond market, the world’s third largest. But in thin trading, Italian bonds and the euro came under selling pressure in the afternoon, leaving Rome’s benchmark borrowing costs stuck above the crucial 7 per cent level."
I noticed similar at the Telegraph. Their usual Euro Doom Merchants were strangely quiet, the relatively good news was a side story instead of a headline.
But we all know the right whingers (and the right wing press) want the Euro and EU to fail irrespective of how much damage it will do this country.
But we all know the right whingers (and the right wing press) want the Euro and EU to fail irrespective of how much damage it will do this country.
here, should anyone be interested, is the Mail view of 2011 (actually Roger Mellie's)
http://www.guardian.c...mellie-review-of-2011
http://www.guardian.c...mellie-review-of-2011
here, should anyone be interested, is the Mail view of 2011 (actually Roger Mellie's)
http://www.guardian.c...mellie-review-of-2011
Oddly I had just finished reading this. Very good!
http://www.guardian.c...mellie-review-of-2011
Oddly I had just finished reading this. Very good!
Fortunately for the various comics involved, today's auction of yet more Italian bonds went rather less-splendidly, so there will at least be some 'good news' to report tomorrow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16352028
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16352028
The main reason why this event was not reported with the euphoria you suggest it warranted, jake, is that, perhaps, all was not quite as you describe.
True, some Italian bonds were sold at a rate of about 3.25%. But these were short term (6 month) bonds, suggesting that investors are reasonably confident that Italy will not encounter difficulties before the middle of 2012. But two year bonds went at just under 5% and the crucial ten year bonds went at about 6.8%. This was just a smidgeon below the 6.99% needed last month and most observers suggest that the sale’s relative success (which were described by some as "disappointing") was mainly due to the ECB offering half a trillion Euros of cheap cash injections to many banks – an offer which was rapidly snapped up and which the same banks used to buy the Italian bonds.
There was no euphoria among fund managers. One commented "For the time being Italy is able to service its debts at quite high yields but it's not sustainable in the long term, so something has to change. Italy must refinance €336.5bn of debt in 2012, including €113bn in the first three months of the year."
Of course, ever optimistic politicians took a different view. Mario Monti, Italy's (EU appointed, technocrat) Prime Minister, said that the market turmoil that has driven up Italian borrowing costs isn’t over and that confidence in Italy’s debt will return "slowly," as he called for a united response to stem the crisis.But then he would say something like that, wouldn’t he.
The fact is that at least four nations in the euro zone are now having to pay unsustainable levels of interest to service their debts and it is only a matter of time before something gives. The politicians, in trying to forestall disaster to save their vanity, are simply delaying the inevitable (at huge cost) and ensuring that the final end-game is far more painful than it needs to be.
True, some Italian bonds were sold at a rate of about 3.25%. But these were short term (6 month) bonds, suggesting that investors are reasonably confident that Italy will not encounter difficulties before the middle of 2012. But two year bonds went at just under 5% and the crucial ten year bonds went at about 6.8%. This was just a smidgeon below the 6.99% needed last month and most observers suggest that the sale’s relative success (which were described by some as "disappointing") was mainly due to the ECB offering half a trillion Euros of cheap cash injections to many banks – an offer which was rapidly snapped up and which the same banks used to buy the Italian bonds.
There was no euphoria among fund managers. One commented "For the time being Italy is able to service its debts at quite high yields but it's not sustainable in the long term, so something has to change. Italy must refinance €336.5bn of debt in 2012, including €113bn in the first three months of the year."
Of course, ever optimistic politicians took a different view. Mario Monti, Italy's (EU appointed, technocrat) Prime Minister, said that the market turmoil that has driven up Italian borrowing costs isn’t over and that confidence in Italy’s debt will return "slowly," as he called for a united response to stem the crisis.But then he would say something like that, wouldn’t he.
The fact is that at least four nations in the euro zone are now having to pay unsustainable levels of interest to service their debts and it is only a matter of time before something gives. The politicians, in trying to forestall disaster to save their vanity, are simply delaying the inevitable (at huge cost) and ensuring that the final end-game is far more painful than it needs to be.
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