rss

Roubini sounds alarm on bond market 'vigilantes'

The United States may fall victim to bond “vigilantes” targeting indebted nations from the United Kingdom to Japan in a potential second stage of the financial crisis, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.

“Bond market vigilantes have already woken up in Greece, in Spain, in Portugal, in Ireland, in Iceland, and soon enough they could wake up in the UK, in Japan, in the United States, if we keep on running very large fiscal deficits,” Roubini said at an event at the London School of Economics. “The chances are, they are going to wake up in the United States in the next three years and say, ‘this is unsustainable.'”

The euro has touched a four-year low against the dollar on concern nations with the largest budget deficits will struggle to meet the European Union’s austerity requirements. Roubini, speaking in a lecture hall packed with students who then queued to meet him at a book-signing, suggested that the public debt burden incurred after the banking panic of 2008 may now cause the financial crisis to metamorphose.

“There is now a massive re-leveraging of the public sector, with budget deficits on the order of 10 percent” of gross domestic product “in a number of countries,” Roubini said. “History would suggest that maybe this crisis is not really over. We just finished the first stage and there’s a risk of ending up in the second stage of this financial crisis.”

The US posted its largest April budget deficit on record as the excess of spending over revenue rose to $82.7 billion. The federal debt is currently projected to reach 90 percent of the economy by 2020.

Roubini, who predicted in 2006 that a financial crisis was imminent, said that the record US budget deficit may persist amid a stalemate in Congress between Republicans blocking tax increases and Democrats who oppose cuts in spending.

“In many advanced economies, the political will to do the right thing is constrained,” he said.

Roubini reiterated that the euro region faces the threat of a breakup after the Greek budget crisis. The European Union said on Tuesday it transferred the first instalment of emergency loans to Greece, one day before 8.5 billion euros ($10.4 billion) of bonds come due.

“Even today there is a risk of a breakup of the monetary union, the euro zone as well,” Roubini said.

“A double dip recession in the euro zone” is “something that’s not unlikely, given what’s happening.”

Makers of AK-47 filing for bankruptcy

ak-47

So we heard that Kalashnikov – the makers of the AK-47 and, also, a fine vodka in an even finer rifle-shaped decorative glass bottle – is filing for whatever is the Russian equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy. Straight out of Pravda:

The Court of Arbitration of the Republic of Udmurtia registered a petition in bankruptcy of JSC Izhmash (Izhevsk Mechanical Works), the largest firearms maker in Russia, Interfax reports. The court hearings to investigate the causes of the petition will be held on October 7, 2009. (more…)

Kiss That V-Shaped Recovery Good-Bye: The U.S. "Worse Than Greece," Says Economist

There’s been many letters and symbols used over the last year to describe the shape of the U.S. economic recovery.  There’s the strong V-shaped recovery; the square root shaped recovery to connote a strong recovery followed by a period of flat to no growth; and the W-shaped recovery favored by those believing in a double dip recession.

Tech Ticker guest Michael Pento has a new twist on the discussion. Pento, senior market strategist with Delta Global Advisors believes this is a tee-pee shaped recovery with the top of that tee-pee having already formed in the fourth quarter.

Pento is negative on America’s near term economic prospects for three main reasons:  too little bank lending, too few jobs and too much public and private debt. “I’ve never seen a v-shaped recovery occur when commercial bank lending was down 7% year over year.  So, small business are not getting loans to create capital goods and to expand and hire individuals,” he observes.

Exacerbating the problems at home, is what he describes, as a weak economy abroad.  With China looking to clamp down on growth, the EuroZone struggling with its own debt problems, Pento asks, “Where is the growth going to come from in demand from overseas?

When he says “demand” he’s referring not only to products and services but also to our growing debt burden.  As the price of servicing our deficit grows, when the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy, Pento is confident others will realize what he already does: the situation in the U.S. is “worse than Greece.”

The way he sees it, there’s a strong potential for a bond and dollar crisis when China starts selling Treasuries.  “Tell me which shape recovery that will yield for the United States?”

S&P Lowers Italy Outlook To Negative

First Credit Agricole, now Italy….Maestro: the EUR take down orchestra is reaching the fortissimo cadenza. Next up: the glissando.

Overview

  • In our view Italy’s current growth prospects are weak, and the political commitment for productivity-enhancing reforms appears to be faltering.
  • Potential political gridlock could contribute to fiscal slippage.
  • As a result, we believe Italy’s prospects for reducing its general government debt have diminished.
  • We have therefore revised the rating outlook on Italy to negative, implying a one-in-three chance that the ratings could be lowered within the next 24 months.
  • We have also affirmed the ‘A+/A-1+’ sovereign credit ratings on Italy. (more…)