Just 1.13 million homes on the market last month,
the fewest for a September on record.
Wall Street Journal 21 October 2023
Ursula von der Leyen expressed solidarity with the victims of the Hamas attacks
This elicited a public rebuke from Josep Borrell, who has the grand title of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Borrell told journalists tetchily in Beijing. EU foreign policy was decided by the leaders of the 27 member states and by their foreign ministers in meetings “chaired by me.”
Englund: Ursula von der Leyen expressed solidarity with the victims of the Hamas attacks, but ... (englundmacro.blogspot.com)
“Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern.”
From this obligation, which EU countries are treaty-bound to honour, flows the extraordinary fact that Europe’s sovereign governments regularly hold each other to account for their budgets. Anywhere else, that would be a supremely national matter.
Most member states agree it’s necessary to wrap things up soon, not least because if they don’t then the old rules kick back in.
“Common concern” will still focus on the quantity more than the quality of spending by member states.
The details of fiscal rules should be no hill to die on, no matter the domestic politics of claiming victory in Brussels.
Martin Sandbu Financial Times 22 October 2023
https://www.ft.com/content/18df3cee-3ad3-4b8d-9631-04b7ffa06cfc
In an ideal world, Italy would follow the EU’s fiscal rules
Stabilitetspakten Stability Pact
Conundrum 2.0?
2005 Alan Greenspan complained of a conundru. He had hiked the Fed’s target rate six times, by a total of 150 basis points, and yet he had barely budged the 10-year Treasury yield.
It remained steady, and continued its gently declining trend.
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2021/11/2005-alan-greenspan-complained-of.html
Englund: And now many wonders why the 10-year is rising so fast.
16 november 2021
The declining trend in 10-year yields continues unabated. Not even this inflation spike can dislodge the most reliable and most important trend in modern finance:
Bridgewater Associates recently published a paper that’s well worth reading, whose argument is summarized by the title: “It’s Mostly a Demand Shock, Not a Supply Shock, and It’s Everywhere.”
https://www.bridgewater.com/its-mostly-a-demand-shock-not-a-supply-shock-and-its-everywhere
John Authers Bloomberg 16 november 2021
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-11-16/greenspan-s-bond-yield-conundrum-has-returned-to-haunt-markets
The defense of the euro gave us negative interest rates
Fed chairman Alan Greenspan stood at the top of his reputation in the early 2000s. Legendary journalist Bob Woodward - who, along with Carl Bernstein, unveiled Watergate and forced President Nixon to resign - published his book Maestro: Greenspan's Fed And The American Boom.
In 2002, he was awarded the honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his "contribution to global economic stability".
Englund blogg 21 August 2019
Räntan, John Maynard Keynes, Knut Wicksell och Greenspan
En inflytelserik representant för detta döda skribenters sällskap är Lundaprofessorn Knut Wicksell (1851–1926) som numera räknas som Sveriges genom tiderna främste
”Negativ ränta strider mot den mänskliga naturen”, sa Alan Greenspan i en tidningsintervju sommaren 2015. Enligt Greenspan kommer människor alltid att sätta större värde på pengar de har i handen nu än på pengar de kommer att få i handen någon gång i framtiden.
”Minusräntor kan inte fortsätta att finnas länge”, sa Greenspan
Gunnar Örn 3 april 2022
A golden age for the buyout industry has ended
One industry executive said that buyout firms were still seeking “2021 prices” for portfolio companies, while potential acquirers and public investors wanted valuations that reflected higher interest rates, the weaker economic outlook and a largely moribund IPO market.
Financial Times 22 October 2023
Spreads on euro-denominated junk bonds rise to widest levels since 2016
The highest premium in seven years to tap the region’s €412bn junk bond market, highlighting growing fears that a long period of high interest rates and an economic slowdown could trigger further defaults.
Financial Times 22 October 2023
”Silence is the Swedish national vice” skrev Susan Sontag
För drygt 50 år sedan publicerade författaren Susan Sontag ”A letter from Sweden” där hon sammanfattade några typiska drag av detta märkliga och tystlåtna temperament.
”Silence is the Swedish national vice” skrev Sontag – med dess oerhörda krav på resonlighet och känslokontroll, som hon finner ”nära nog patologiskt”. Det var ett folk som avskydde det aggressiva och stridslystna, och det var inte så konstigt med tanke på dess historia.
Mycket vatten har runnit under svenskhetens broar sedan dess. Men jag är övertygad om att befolkningsmajoriteten fortfarande är djupt präglad av den traditionella svenskheten, den som Sontag förvånat betraktade och som jag lärde mig att uppskatta när jag kom till Sverige 1974.
Mauricio Rojas SvD 22 oktober 2023
US regional bank shares slide as lenders pay out more to keep depositors
Regional banks have had months of relative calm following the industry turmoil precipitated by the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a pair of other regional lenders earlier in the year.
Banks continue to report large unrealised losses on bonds... But those paper losses, which were raising fears over earnings this year, do not appear to be moving the shares of regional lenders this quarter.
Financial Times 20 October 2023
The last emperor of the Ming dynasty
A Chinese reprint of a book about an emperor who ran his realm into the ground before committing suicide nearly 400 years ago has abruptly disappeared from book shelves in China and searches for it have been censored online.
The Book Chongzhen: the Diligent Emperor of a Failed Dynasty, republished last month, recounts how the last emperor of the 1368-1644 Ming dynasty purged senior officials and mismanaged his kingdom before finally hanging himself on a tree outside the Forbidden City as rebels closed in on Beijing.
Financial Times 20 October 2023
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