All major stock exchanges suffered severe losses on the first day of this week not because Tesla and facebook stocks are falling, or even because the Chinese announced on Sunday night their retaliative import tariffs of 15% to 25% on 128 US products; all that was known and probably discounted for during the past few […]Is the advent of nationalism to destroy economic neo-liberalism?
April 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
All major stock exchanges suffered severe losses on the first day of this week not because Tesla and facebook stocks are falling, or even because the Chinese announced on Sunday night their retaliative import tariffs of 15% to 25% on 128 US products; all that was known and probably discounted for during the past few […]Mainland Europe adopts Germanic cartel business patterns
April 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment
As in VW’s diesel engines emissions scandal, in the case of Estonia’s half banking system working as mafia’s financiers, it was the Americans to unveil the wrongdoings. Is it by chance or the Europeans are looking the other way, when it comes to their own dirty laundry? Those calculated frame ups are not only meant […]Trump’s trade wars: Aiming at long term gains for America
March 26, 2018 by 1 Comment
Last Friday, President Donald Trump again surprised the world by imposing new import tariffs on Chinese products of a value of $60 billion and deferring the imposition of import super levies on European Union steel and aluminum for 1st May. In the latter case he also postponed the new tariffs for another six exporting countries […]Trump’s trade war splits the EU; Germany upset with Juncker’s “we can be stupid too”
March 19, 2018 by 1 Comment
The US-EU trade war starts on 23 March, with the first shot fired by Washington at 12:01 a.m. (04.01 GMT). From what we know so far, from that minute onward the American customs authorities will impose extra tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, set by President Trump at 25% and 10% respectively. However, it seems […]Trump systematically upsets global order and trade: Where does this end?
March 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The extra import tariffs Donald Trump, the ‘America first’ President, the US is to impose on steel (25%) and aluminum (10%) imports have provoked a tsunami of reactions and widespread consequences without and even within the country. The European Commission President reacted swiftly and stated the EU is to retaliate with tariffs of an equal […]Disintegrating Tories will void May’s pledge for Brexit deal in seven weeks
February 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, said from China, where she was on official visit, that in seven weeks she will have a Brexit transition deal with the EU. Surely, nobody believes her. The reason is that her Tory governing party is so deeply split over the Brexit terms, up to the point […]Draghi keeps the euro cheap, helps debt refinancing, recapitalization of banks and growth
December 18, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, the European Central Bank decided to keep flooding the Eurozone with hundreds of billions, despite strong objections coming from the frugal German-Dutch duo. Mario Draghi was adamant about that. It’s interesting to follow his response to a journalist’s remark, who reminded him that the “Dutch Central Bank President Klaas Knot said in a […]Do the giant banks ‘tell’ Britain to choose a good soft Brexit and ‘remain’ or else…?
November 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment
It may be true that the world is tired watching Britain being completely confused about choosing the way to exit from the European Union. Yet, the almost schizo division plaguing the Brits and their political elites alike still paralyzes to this date the divorce negotiations. Countries to be most affected by Brexit like Holland are […]Banks, insurance giants are free again to abuse the real economy
November 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Not many years after the financial meltdown of 2008-2010, the main culpable parties for that global catastrophe, the big banks and the gigantic insurance companies are now commandingly asking the world to forget that. They demand to be again left completely unchecked, free to repeat what they did then; inflate all and every market to […]The 27 EU leaders did nothing to help May unlock the Brexit talks
October 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
President Abraham Lincoln has said “when someone says it’s a matter of principles not money, then it’s a matter of money”. This famous saying was flagrantly confirmed last week in Brussels, when the 27 EU leaders – with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron prominent amongst them – made it clear to Theresa May she has […]Brexit: The Conservative Party drives the UK and Europe to a perilous road
October 9, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The Tories, the governing party of Britain is falling apart, being deeply divided about the kind of Brexit their country should pursue. It’s not the disastrous political circumstances of Prime Minister Theresa May that blocks the negotiations with the European Union, but the chaos dividing the hard Brexiteers from their colleagues preferring a smooth partition […]Is euro to repeat its past highs with the dollar?
September 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The strengthening of the euro vis-à-vis the US dollar is taking alarming proportions, puzzling markets and the European Central Bank. The Eurozone single currency has gained 14% from the beginning of the year, with the tempo of appreciation accelerating. It gained around 10% during the summer. For around three years, the ECB has been following […]Yellen and Draghi tell Trump and markets not to expedite the next crisis
August 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The disappointment of financial markets with the lack of hints about monetary policy from the Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers is understandable. Both Janet Yellen, US Federal Reserve System Chair and Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank President while keeping their policy guidelines unchanged, choose to forcibly attack the demands of bankers – supported […]Berlin vies for a Germanic European Central Bank
August 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last week, the deep German state struck again targeting the heart of Eurozone. The hit was effectuated by Sabine Lautenschläger, a middle aged Stuttgart born ex BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) employee and presently member of the powerful executive board of the European Central Bank. Sabine now wants the ECB to abandon its extraordinary monetary […]EU unveils plan to accelerate Capital Markets Union ahead of London’s departure from the bloc
June 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Skyline of the City of London, Europe’s largest financial centre. (Source: EC – Audiovisual Service / Photo: Jack Taylor) Last week the European Commission unveiled it is taking further steps to develop the Capital Markets Union, a plan to support growth and investment in the Old Continent. The project, which aims at creating a single […]The ECB again takes care of the bankers not the people
May 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last week the European Central Bank surprised everybody by letting it be known that interest rates will “remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases”. To be noted, presently, the main refinancing operations interest rate is zero. Of course, the markets […]The London City-EU connection holds despite of Brexit and the ban of LSE-Deutsche Börse merger
April 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment
European Commission’s decision to ban the Deutsche Börse – London Stock Exchange merger, on the one hand solved a long list of problems it could have triggered, in view of and after the Brexit. On the other hand though, this decision has created probably as many issues, because London is the long established low cost […]Trump’s blasting win causes uncertainty and turbulence to the global financial markets
November 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
So Donald Trump against all odds won the US elections and will become the 45th President of the United States of America. The latter had as a result to cause severe and immediate turbulences to the world’s financial markets which experienced serious losses in the first few hours of the elections. However, Trump’s victory speech that came right after […]Can the EU afford to block China’s business openings to Europe by denying her the ‘market economy status’?
October 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The way Wallonia, Belgium’s French speaking region approved CETA – the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between the EU and Canada – is a rather dark landmark. In the future, Europe’s trade and otherwise relations with foreign countries will be rather shaky. This was also true in the past, but now became evident for everybody […]UK economy in dire straits: leading banks now officially plan to Brexit too
October 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
At the morrow of the Brexit vote, back in late June this year, one of the first warnings on the possible disastrous effects of the UK leaving the European Union was all about the banking sector. The entire British financial sector was in the eye of the storm and the world’s main media outlets started to […]The EU seals CETA but plans to re-baptise TTIP after missing the 2016 deadline
September 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The trade ministers of the European Union, after their plenary meeting in Bratislava last Friday, may not have found a way to revive the interest around TTIP, but surely all agreed on one thing: negotiations on the EU-US free trade agreement will almost certainly not be finished before the end of Obama’s presidency. The key […]Deutsche Bank again in the middle of the US-EU economic skirmishes
September 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US government is reacting in many ways against the fine in back taxes of €13 billion which the European Commission imposed on Apple. Firstly, Jack Lew, the American Secretary of the Treasury, accused the EU of grabbing tax incomes which belong to the US. On 31st August he said, “What’s not appropriate is for, […]Mario Draghi didn’t do it but Kim Jong-un did
September 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, was unable to move the capital and money markets with his customary monetary policy Press conference in Frankfurt am Main. On the contrary, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, a global castoff, did it the next day just by pressing a button. However, it took […]No end to Deutsche Bank’s problems: new litigations in the US and frailty in EU stress test
August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, Deutsche Bank’s shares fell by 4.5% in the first hour of trading in Frankfurt, after the bank released its second quarter results, showing a measly profit of €20 million, in comparison to €818 million last year. The percentage fall of this stock is the biggest ever in such a brief time in the […]Brexit casts a shadow over the LSE – Deutsche Börse merger: a tracer of how or if brexit is to be implemented
July 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
One of the most direct and important consequences of the Brexit vote is the uncertainty it casts on the merger of Europe’s largest stock exchanges and clearing houses, the London Stock Exchange and the German bourse in Frankfurt, the Deutsche Börse. The two mammoth institutions, the double sun of Europe’s financial universe, last March agreed […]Deutsche Bank slammed by the US-based trio of IMF, Fed and Moody’s
July 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday morning the International Monetary Fund and the American central bank, the Fed, simultaneously but in the face of it independently, issued warnings about the health of the largest German lender, the long ailing Deutsche Bank. A few days before that the US rating agency Moody’s had degraded the creditworthiness of the bank close […]Biggest London City Banks ready to move core European operations to Frankfurt or Dublin?
June 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The United Kingdom last week has voted to leave the European Union and thus opened the most uncertain chapter of its modern history. The business side of the complicated Brexit drama is indeed where the whole world is currently looking at, as the main economic players are still trying to figure out the way they will be influenced by all […]Will the outcome of the UK referendum “calm” the financial markets?
June 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Just one day left for both the Remain and Leave campaigners to persuade the undecided Britons to vote in their favor promoting what is best for their country. The world is about to finally find out what will be the outcome of the UK referendum with the reports and polls already showing reverse results compared to last […]The IMF sees Brexit’s ‘substantial impact’ while the world’s economy holds its breath
June 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The International Monetary Fund last Friday published what will most likely remain its most detailed analysis on a “Brexit” scenario, calling the impact of Britain’s departure from the European Union “negative and substantial”. With only two days to go until the referendum, it is clear more than ever that the economic field now is where […]ECB’s new money bonanza handed out to help the real economy or create new bubbles?
March 14, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last Thursday the European Central Bank announced it will pump extra piles of freshly printed money into Eurozone’s banking system. The President of ECB, Mario Draghi said that he will be delivering €80 billion a month for the public bonds owned by banks for as long as it is needed. On top of this, the […]Who is to pay the dearest price in a global slowdown?
March 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
What happens in China is more important for the European economy than a meagre fall of unemployment in the Eurozone. Last Tuesday, China said its February exports dived by a record 25.4%, fuelling new fears for a bigger slowdown in the world economy. At the same time, a Press release by Eurostat, the EU statistical […]What have the banks done to the markets making them unable to bear cheap oil?
February 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, a new steep fall of the price of crude oil by almost 5%, triggered another selloff in all the major capital markets of the world. The New York and the European stock exchanges lost anything between 2% and 3% of their capitalization. One may observe that this development is one of many of […]Can the next financial crisis be avoided?
February 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The descent of prices in the world capital markets continued almost unhindered this past week and only last Friday financial, oil and commodity values gained some limited grounds. Altogether however, the major stock markets have erased trillions off their capitalization since last June, when the dark clouds gathered above the Chinese mega-cities of Shanghai and […]
