The U.S. trade deficit fell to $49.3 billion in November. But...

But on a year-over-year basis, the gap rose by 10.4 percent.

CNBC 6 February 2019

Targeted long-term refinancing operation - TLTRO

TLTRO is a super-cheap /ECB/ funding vehicle for banks that choose to participate, 
getting liquidity into the more challenged parts of the EU’s regional banking system. 

Think Greece and Italy. 

Bloomberg 21 January 2019

De ekonomiska argumenten för varför Sverige ska stå utanför eurosamarbetet håller inte längre, skriver Europaparlamentarikern Cecilia Wikström (L).

Hon anser således att de ekonomiska argumenten mot euron har hållit tidigare.

När och hur spricker EMU?

https://www.svd.se/dags-for-sverige-att-ansluta-sig-till-euron

Hushållens skulder uppgår till cirka 4000 miljarder kronor.

En del av skuldbördan behöver flyttas över från privat till offentlig sektor. 

Det skriver Anders Palmér, tidigare prognoschef på finansdepartementet och chefstrateg på Första AP-fonden.

SvD 11 januari 2019

Dollar has been up

Fed had lost its way.

From bubble to bubble, from crisis to crisis, there were increasingly compelling reasons to question the Fed’s stewardship of the US economy.

That now appears to be changing. 

STEPHEN S. ROACH Project Syndicate Dec 24, 2018

It is mathematically impossible for investors, in aggregate, to "rebalance out of bonds into equities."

The explanation is easy. For every buyer of a stock or bond there is a seller. For every seller there is a buyer.

Someone much hold every stock or bond issued, 100% of the time.

Individual investors may take action, but rebalancing cannot and will not occur in aggregate because it is mathematically impossible.

https://moneymaven.io/mishtalk/economics/treasury-secretary-mnuchin-is-totally-clueless-about-how-markets-function--qk2D694HkamTb2SqR9yrQ/

Collateral damage

Shares are often used as collateral for other transactions. 

When Wall Street goes down there will be a lot of collateral damage.

Rolf Englund Twitter 25 December 2018

Worst Christmas Eve ever

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/24/us-stock-futures-fall-slightly-as-the-dow-attempts-to-rebound-from-its-worst-week-in-a-decade.html

The U.S. Treasury Department raised eyebrows

and jogged worrying memories of the financial crisis Sunday with a statement that 

Secretary Steve Mnuchin convened calls with the CEOs of six leading banks to confirm they had ample liquidity, in hopes of averting another Wall Street selloff Monday.

 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-departments-odd-attempt-to-reassure-investors-may-have-just-backfired-2018-12-23

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/23/treasury-secretary-mnuchin-held-calls-with-the-ceos-of-major-banks-to-discuss-the-market-turmoil.html

Verhofstadt: We need only return to the ideas of Europe’s founding fathers: Jean Monnet, Paul-Henri Spaak, Robert Schuman, Alcide de Gasperi, and others.

These leaders had a clear vision of a simpler yet stronger Union, led not by a 28-member commission, but by a real government with 12 ministers.

They would have allowed Europeans to vote directly for a parliament with full competencies and legislative authority, and without the system of unanimity that has allowed rogue member states such as Hungary to tie the entire bloc’s hands. 

Guy Verhofstadt Project Syndicate Dec 12, 2018

Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, is President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE) in the European Parliament and the author of Europe’s Last Chance: Why the European States Must Form a More Perfect Union.

US stocks suffer worst week in a decade

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its biggest weekly drop in percentage terms since 2008.

BBC 21 December 2018

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46654064

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