Euro Crisis

6 May 2012 Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande wins the French Presidential election, beating centre-right pro-austerity incumbent and close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy. 6 May 2012 Greek election sees no party with a majority with heavy gains for parties against the EU austerity strategy. 13 May 2012 Greece’s President, Karolos Papoulias, […]

British mobile firm Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD) reported that the mobile phone giant had a “steady” performance for the 12 months ending 31stMarch 2012, affected by a “weaker euro” and “tough macroeconomic and regulatory environment” in Europe. Revealing its annual performance to the public, Vodafone indicated “impairment charges” amounting to £4 billion for its operations...

The ECB “long term refinancing operation” is two things. Firstly, it is an outcome of agreement. It means Germany will stomach inflation. Why not? Germany will prosper even more under inflation. A few percentage points of inflation will lower the euro and make Germany an even greater powerhouse. What a sacrifice for Germany to make […]

Gold, of course, rises and anything else that involves costs billed in firmer currencies. Europe will not have austerity, it will try and nibble away at the edges but that won’t be enough to halt the slide. Meanwhile, even the mild austerity that will get dished out will be punished at the ballot box. The […]

One week before UK Chancellor George Osborne is scheduled to deliver the new budget, Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook for the UK’s long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) downward from stable to negative. The announcement has provoked a quite a number of responses, such as “UK Chancellor George Osborne has been issued a pre-Budget warning” […]

Rule 1 SILENCE IS GOLDEN  Signal: Long If you find that a discussion on a stock you are interested in is muted this is an extremely good sign. People talk a lot about stocks when they are unsure or when they think their investment needs a shove in the right direction. Solid stocks attract a […]