Earlier today there was an amusing headline generated in the WSJ "Berlin Blinks on Shared Debt [5]" which we noted in the frontruninng section and promptly mocked, because it was patently 100% untrue, and would have a chance of happening only if markets were in full on crash mode. It also goes completely against what everyone in Germany has been saying for weeks and months. Still, the stupid markets, and especially the EURUSD algos keep responding as more and more media sources caught on to this headline. It took just under 40 minutes for Germany to get out of bed and slap the WSJ down, which as of this morning has about the same credibility as the Guardian in the Euro-rumor mongering department.
- GERMAN FINANCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN SAYS SCHAEUBLE DID NOT SAY GERMANY WILL MOVE SOONER THAN EXPECTED TOWARDS SHARED LIABILITY FOR DEBT
From Reuters:
Germany's finance ministry denied a report on Thursday that suggested it had modified its opposition to euro bonds and reaffirmed its long-held view that they could only come at the end of a process towards fiscal union.
Earlier the Wall Street Journal quoted Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying in an interview published on its website that Germany may be willing to move sooner than expected to accept shared liability of euro zone debt.
Asked to comment on the reported comments, ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said: "This is not true."
"We've always said that we can talk about shared debt management only at the end of a process toward a genuine fiscal union," he told Reuters.
And full roundtrip:
[6]