Monday, December 12, 2011

Euro, death spiral

It looks increasingly likely that the Euro has entered a death spiral: Spreading sovereign debt crisis is weighing on bank capital which requires more government supports, causing more stress on government debts.

One hope is for ECB to become the lender of last resort, an idea that Germany has consistently blocked.

The latest European Summit was all about sumitting to the German will of tighter budget control, but without any economic stimulus for the troubled nations. The implications can be deadly.

The 10-year Italian government bond yield is back up to about 6.5%. If it hits 7%, Europe will be back to the full crisis mode again, much sooner than the summit "leaders" have expected.