Archive - Jul 2015 - Story

Once the reality of debt write-offs and who lent how much and what that means at home, the real fireworks could start. Can Italy, Spain or Austria afford to write-off 1/3 or 1/2 or more of what they lent to Greece? How about the EFSF or ECB? How will depositors feel if they get a quick 30% off the top? That is the biggest issue. The math as they say. And it is what we should be watching for.

The Greek referendum landslide "No" vote came and went and just hours after its passage claimed its first head, which was - perhaps somewhat surprisingly - that of the Greek finance minister himself, Yanis Varoufakis, who many say orchestrated the referendum seen as a loud endorsement of the government's actions. As of this morning he is no more. Here is why in his own words.

According to Telegraph's Ambrose Evans Pritchard who quotes what appears to be a direct quote to him from Yanis Varoufakis, Greece will, "If necessary... issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU's, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago." Hardliners within the party - though not Mr Varoufakis - are demanding the head of governor Stournaras, a holdover appointee from the past conservative government.  They want a new team installed, one that is willing to draw on the central bank's secret reserves, and to take the provocative step in extremis of creating euros.

On the heels of a weekend which saw Beijing launch a series of ad hoc policy maneuvers designed to stop the bleeding in China's equity markets, the SHCOMP opened sharply higher Monday only to give back half of its opening gains minutes later in a preview of what will likely be a week of unprecedented volatility as panicked housewives and banana vendors looking to sell the rips battle the PBoC for control of China's stock market mania.

Here are the two choices for today's caption contest: we leave it up to readers to decide which is more appropriate.

"The A-share market may not bottom until the government, possibly via the PBoC, becomes the buyer of the last resort. It seems that the government might have just taken the first step in that direction on Sunday night with PBoC’s promise to provide liquidity support to stabilize the market. If PBoC becomes the main source of market-supporting liquidity, we expect the central bank's credibility to be hurt."

Today, Greeks sent a resounding message to Brussels, Frankfurt, and Berlin that they are not willing to acquiesce to further humiliation at the hands of creditors. Now, a stunned sell-side — which had, over the past three months, very carefully tweaked their base cases to reflect the growing risk of Grexit — is scrambling to explain to nervous clients what happens next.

With virtually all polling completed, the final result is 61.3% No, 38.7% Yes - a whopping rejection of Troika hegemony which may also be the final nail in any negotiations between Greece and the Eurogroup.

The number everyone's been waiting for all afternoon is finally here: moments ago ES opened for trading after the holiday weekend and it's not pretty, down 1.5% to 2035 in early illiquid trading.

Just out from Reuters:

FINANCE MINISTERS "WOULD NOT KNOW WHAT TO DISCUSS" AFTER EMERGING GREEK 'NO' VOTE-EURO ZONE OFFICIAL

May we suggest containing the fallout, whether in capital markets or in the resurgent mood in the other PIIGS, as a primary topic?

Perhaps the best summary - or epitaph, some would say - of the shocking events that took place in Greece this afternoon, and the resultant falling dominoes that are about to be unleashed, was given by Slovakia's finance minister Peter Kazimir, who summarized events as follows: "The nightmare of the 'euro-architects' that a country could leave the club seems like a realistic scenario after Greece voted No today."  So here is JPM's Malcom Barr with the bank's latest take on Greece which is that at this point, a Grexit is JPM's "base case"... and it only goes downhill from there.

If marriage insurance sales take off, it's only a matter of time before Wall Street repackages it and sells it to investors via subprime marriage-backed securities. A boom in marriage speculation would ensue. Did you see your neighbor with his mistress last night? Buy some MBS credit default swaps on him and tell his wife what you saw.