A "Who Is Who" Of Countries About To Fund The IMF's Bail Out Of Europe

When back in April we wrote about the huge expansion in the IMF's New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB) multilateral facility (which was expanded from $50 billion to over $550 billion), one of our observations was that "Funny money will galore. At this point nobody will allow anyone or anything to fail." And since all of Europe is about to be bailed out by the now insolvent ECB and the still somewhat solvent IMF, it strikes us as an opportune time to recall just who will bear the cost of this pan-European rescue. Surely, by now even idiots realize since the ECB is bailing out Europe, it is really bailing out itself, in a process described beautifully by Sean Corrigan recently, and any incremental money coming from ECB member countries will really go to themselves, and therefore its "new capital" contribution can be completely ignored.

Hungary Follows Argentina in Pension-Fund Ultimatum, `Nightmare' for Some

Hungary is giving its citizens an ultimatum: move your private-pension fund assets to the state or lose your state pension.

MarketClub Is gold stuck between a rock and a hard place?

Short Video

Time-Tested Wisdom: For Commodity Bulls, 'Don't Fight the Fed' Becomes 'Don't Fight Beijing'

The big story in the week that was (besides the customary Black Friday trample-fests)? “Greece Part II: Eurozone sovereign debt crisis revisited.” As such, the Captain Obvious award goes to the NYT for pointing out that a bailout of Spain — were such even feasible — would test Europe’s finances. (Nah, ya think?) Funny, though, how the big driver often winds up being the thing less talked about. And right now, there is very little focus on what’s happening in China. The old Federal Reserve rule is “three steps and a stumble,” meaning, when the Fed hikes rates three times, look out below. (Basic rationale: As interest rates go up, margin and loan service costs go up. Rate-of-return hurdles go up. Yields on safe haven debt instruments become more competitive. All this happens with risk appetite in a ‘peaking’ stage, and the bloom comes off the speculative rose.) So if “Don’t Fight the Fed” counts as time-tested wisdom, how about “Don’t Fight Beijing?”

Contagion strikes Italy as Ireland bail-out fails to calm markets

The EU-IMF rescue for Ireland has failed to restore to confidence in the eurozone debt markets, leading instead to a dramatic surge in bond yields across half the currency bloc.

How to profit as German consumers start spending again

The future of the global economy depends on rebalancing, we're told. Countries that had consumer booms have seen those turn to busts. Now they need to become more productive. And countries that have so far been driven by exports will need to encourage domestic consumption, as their overseas customers stop spending. In Britain, our hopes hang on the manufacturing sector. And there are some signs that we are at least nudging the economy in that direction. Manufacturing has certainly been one of the healthiest sectors over the past year. But there's another rebalancing story in Europe that's rather more convincing.

The euro has further to fall – here's why

Rushed Sunday night deals designed to soothe markets before they open on a Monday morning – it's like the autumn of 2008 all over again. Last night, Ireland's bail-out was finally agreed and signed off. The country will get €85bn as expected. €35bn of that will go on propping up the banking system. The other €50bn goes on sorting out government spending. No big surprises there. Perhaps more importantly, the eurozone's leaders have decided on an outline for a permanent 'bail-out' fund. You may remember that this latest bout of panic came about because Germany had decided that in the future, bondholders should – shock, horror – share some sort of responsibility for their careless decisions to fund irresponsible banks.

Germany faces its awful choice as Spain wobbles

Desperate moments call for desperate measures. In June 1940, the British War Cabinet led by Winston Churchill offered a total national merger to a shattered France.

Juniors vs. seniors

Has the gold market become overheated and thereby vulnerable to a sharp decline?

Putin Envisions a Russia-EU Free Trade Zone

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would like to see a free trade agreement between the European Union and Russia. In a Thursday editorial for a German newspaper, he describes his vision of "a unified continental market with a capacity worth trillions of euros."

It's Official: There Is Not Enough Money To Bail Out Spain

It seems that the European bailout buck will stop with Portugal for one simple reason: when Europe created the EFSF it did not think it would need to serially bail out everyone; now the EFSF does not have enough money to cover a bailout of Spain. From Dow Jones: "The European emergency fund, promoted as having the financial firepower to douse a financial crisis in the euro zone, may not even have enough money to cover a bailout of Spain. "[The fund] will be very close to the line, it will be precarious and it won't leave anything for anybody else," said Whitney Debevoise, a sovereign-debt lawyer with Arnold Porter and former World Bank executive director." Of course, if and when Spain is bailed out, other bail outs will be irrelevant, as at that point the vigilantes will focus squarely on Germany. At that moment, nothing less than a complete dissolution of the currency union and an unmitigated monetization ala Weimar will save what is left of the productive powers remaining in Europe. 

What a Spanish bail-out would mean for investors

Bail-outs just don't buy the sort of relief they used to. Ireland has accepted as much as £77bn to pay its bills and prop up its banking sector. Yet markets aren't convinced it's enough. Irish ten-year government bond yields topped 9% yesterday. That's the highest level they've reached so far in this growing crisis. More worryingly, other European countries with big borrowings also saw their sovereign bonds take a further pounding. That's bad news. The whole point of helping the Irish was to stop investors from panicking about the rest of the eurozone. As things stand, Europe probably has enough money left in the emergency pot to bail-out Portugal. But if the firebreak fails, the next economy in the market's sights is way too big to save: Spain…

Are austerity measures really as harsh as they seem?

Ireland doesn't matter. That's the message we got from the markets yesterday. Even as the country announced its huge new austerity budget, markets around the world rebounded. It's probably only to be expected. Markets are meant to be discounting mechanisms after all. What with strong economic data from Germany and some upbeat news on US joblessness, investors decided they'd had enough of the Irish story for now. The problems will be back in the news again before too long. And markets are likely to get fresh fits of the jitters as other countries come under the spotlight.

Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill on the European debt crisis, America, the dollar, gold and the global economy

Jim O'Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist and now chairman of its $823bn (£528bn) asset management division, is optimistic that the West can emerge from its recent troubles and grow as much as emerging markets.

Is inflation now beyond the Bank's control?

Mervyn King is powerless to halt the damage to savings and spending power, says Jeremy Warner.

Jailed counterfeiters aren't a patch on the Bank of England

The British and US governments are printing money to create inflation – to reduce their debts, says Jeff Randall.

EU rescue costs start to threaten Germany itself

The escalating debt crisis on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of monetary union.

James Turk - Gold Separating From the Dollar

With gold and silver consolidating recent gains, King World News interviewed James Turk out of London. When asked about the action in both gold and silver Turk stated, “I think the important point today is that gold has moved back above its short-term moving averages. This should bring a great deal more buying into the market. I was very impressed today that gold was strong in spite of the fact that the US dollar was up a full point. Jim Sinclair has been bringing up this point, and it looks like he nailed gold separating from the dollar in terms of the action.”

EU must abandon bailout this madness

Both John Redwood and Douglas Carswell are accomplished analysts of events who make worthy leaders of the Tory backbench revolt against Britain's planned contribution to the Irish bail-out. They tend to be right on many things, but on this issue, they are substantially wrong.

Spain and Portugal under fire as bond spreads hit record

Borrowing costs for Portugal and Spain have surged to danger levels on fears that Europe's leaders are losing political control of the Irish crisis and have yet to agree on a coherent plan to tackle the eurozone's deeper debt woes.

Ireland Set For Majority Stakes in Leading Banks

Ireland is set to take a majority stake in top lender Bank of Ireland as part of a massive international bailout that will effectively give the state full ownership of the country's two other biggest banks. Dublin, Ireland Firecrest Picture | Robert Harding | Getty Images Dublin, Ireland The European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed a bailout of Ireland to shore up its banks and give them access to cheaper state funding.

Merkel: EU Needs Courage to Make Investors Share Risk

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday European politicians needed the "courage" to make private investors share in the risk of future debt crises in the euro zone and show financial markets who is in charge.

Have stock markets already topped out?

I think we've seen the top. It came on Bonfire Night, in the aftermath of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's quantitative easing announcement – the latest bout of dollar-printing. 5,900 is the number for the FTSE. 11,450 for the Dow. 1,225 for the S&P 500.

Ireland bail-out: British banks hit as Irish rescue falters

British banks lost billions of pounds in value on Monday after the Irish bail-out was thrown into jeopardy over concerns that the country's government might collapse before a rescue deal can be agreed.

Gold, Silver Set to Beat Farm Commodities in 2011, Societe Generale Says

Palladium, gold and silver will extend their rallies next year and investors should remain overweight in precious metals, which will outperform farm products including sugar, according to Societe Generale SA.

George Soros - Conditions Ideal for Gold to Rise

George Soros is at it again with more comments on the gold market. This time he admits that conditions are ideal for gold to rise. He claims that the actual deflationary pressures combined with fears of inflation will continue to propel gold higher. He also claims that gold will go parabolic before the bull market ends.

China Allows Yuan to Start Trading Against Ruble

China started allowing the yuan to trade against the Russian ruble from today in the interbank market as policy makers promote the currency’s use in global trade and finance.

Can the Euro Still Be Saved?

The countries of the euro zone are hopelessly divided over the question of how to save the currency in the long term. Bailouts for individual countries like Ireland and Greece can only be a temporary solution. Meanwhile, an internal paper drawn up by the German government has revealed Berlin's plans for forcing private-sector investors to take their share of losses in future crises.

Debt Delenda Est

The subject is debt; it needs to go away.

Chinese inflation is about to hit Britain

All eyes were on the eurozone yesterday. It looks like Ireland will now need an international bail-out worth up to 60% of its entire economy. And already investors are trying to work out who else will be getting in the queue for emergency cash. But Ireland is by no means the last of our worries. Over in Asia, another major problem is brewing up. And this could be at least as troublesome for the UK as the eurozone's woes.

Where is half of world's population located?

Long-term real growth in US GDP

Long term real growth in US GDP (Log Scale)

Bernanke defends bond-purchase plan, warns China

Bernanke defends bond-purchase plan, warns China

Pollitt & Co

The Saturated Sponge

Chinese Researchers Find Official Statistics Massively Understating Inflation .

With Chinese official inflation accelerating, and the government rushing to implement price controls for food, the inflation statistics themselves are now coming under far more intense scrutiny than before. And failing. Two weeks ago, a Chinese think tank said that official data had been understating inflation by 7%.

How Gold Performs During Periods of Deflation, Disinflation, Runaway Stagflation and Hyperinflation

Amid the global crisis in confidence, investors seem to be rediscovering the fact that gold has been used as money for thousands of years. In periods where black swans are no singular occurrences but are practically coming in flocks, the status of gold as a safe haven has yet again proven its worth. - Ronald-Peter Stoferle, The Erste Group

Ireland accepts a bail-out – who'll be next?

Ireland has succumbed to the inevitable. In agreeing to a bail-out, Ireland has become the second eurozone domino to topple in the space of seven months. We don't yet know the exact details of the bail-out. They're still being hammered out. And for now, it looks as though markets have got their risk appetite back. Commodities are up and Asian markets closed higher this morning. But we saw the same reaction after Greece. And just a few months later, we're back with another bail-out. How long before the next domino topples?

Ireland bail-out: Markets brand rescue package a failure due to lack of detail

Ireland's bail-out had been branded a failure by the markets owing to the lack of detail on the multi-billion euro loan

Portugal next as EMU's Máquina Infernal keeps ticking

The Portuguese seemed baffled - and pained - that investors should link their country in any way with Greece or Ireland. I am afraid they must come to terms very soon with some unpleasant facts.

Why Britain must participate in the Irish rescue

Should Britain be contributing to the Irish rescue? John Redwood argues that it would be better to apply the money to helping Ireland leave the euro than to propping it up, and on some level he’s plainly got a point. The mooted £7bn looks a scandalous use of money in the midst of an austerity programme.

Ireland's not unlucky, just an inevitable victim of the euro project

It might seem tempting to believe that the cruel fate which has befallen Ireland is the result of outrageous fortune – yet another "unforeseeable" event hitting the financial system. But it is not.

Does QE really stimulate economic activity?

Earlier this month the Federal Reserve announced its latest round of quantitative easing, long ago dubbed QE, but it should be called by what it really is – money printing. The Fed buys US government debt and turns it into currency. The process is somewhat arcane, but very simple at its core.

China eyes price controls to fight inflation

China price controls

Borrowing Needs as percentage of GDP

Portuguese Foreign Minister Says Country May Need To Leave Euro

Portuguese foreign minister Luis Amado has suggested his country might need to leave the eurozone if it cannot come to agreement on an austerity budget, according to Expresso (via WSJ.com). According to the Wall Street Journal's translation, Amado says that Portugal may face, "a scenario of exit from the eurozone." This comment may not seem like much, but it is evidence that fringe eurozone members are considering whether they should be in the currency union at all. Portugal has been unable to build a government coalition capable of passing the sort of cuts ECB officials are calling for, putting their membership at risk.

The 20 Cities With The Most Underwater Homes

The scariest number for anyone invested in the real estate market is this: 23.2%. That's the record-high share of mortgages that are now underwater, as estimated by Zillow. Negative equity is the prime factor driving a record number of mortgage holders into delinquency. Delinquencies will lead to foreclosures, which will drive down home prices, creating more negative equity -- a very dangerous cycle. In some parts of America, a gob smacking percentage of homes are underwater. In Las Vegas, for instance, four out of five mortgages are now underwater.

Are You Taking a “No Brainer” or “Head in the Sand” Approach to Investing in Gold and Silver?

It is genuinely amazing that so many economists and investment professionals continue to promote ‘business as usual’ investment advice. Their clients will surely pay a steep price for this ‘head in the sand’ approach to investing.

Open Letter to Ben Bernanke

The following is the text of an open letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signed by several economists, along with investors and political strategists, most of them close to Republicans

High Unemployment Not Structural Problem

Fears high unemployment levels are structural in nature and beyond the aid of monetary policy are wrong, a new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco argues.

Contagion hits Portugal as Ireland dithers on rescue

The EU authorities have begun to vent their fury against Ireland over its refusal to accept a financial rescue, fearing that the crisis will engulf Portugal and Spain unless confidence is restored immediately to eurozone bond markets.

EU puts pressure on Ireland to accept bail-out

Informal discussions on a new EU bail-out of up to €90bn (£77bn) for Ireland intensified on Sunday amid fears of renewed nervousness when financial markets open Monday.

Ireland denies €60bn bail-out talk as EU puts on pressure

The Irish Government has been forced to make a second denial in two days that it is preparing to go to the EU for a multi-billion euro bail-out.

summit Barack Obama closes G20 with pop at China over trade

US president Barack Obama took a swipe at China's currency policy after G20 leaders failed to resolve tensions running high over global trade imbalances.

Germany blamed for Irish debt soar

Ireland pointed the finger at Germany for stoking fears that holders of government bonds could be forced to suffer losses as the cost of Ireland's borrowing hit fresh highs.

Chile: The One Emerging Market That Investors Can't Afford to Ignore in 2011

When I review each of the world's emerging markets in order to decide which ones to buy in 2011, I start with two questions: * Is the market cheap? * And has it under-performed over the past year? If the answer is "yes" for both those questions, that market is much more likely to get my vote. But with every rule, there are also exceptions. As we will see.

The eurozone's woes go far deeper than Ireland

It seems we're not much closer to a concrete resolution of Ireland's debt problems. No aid has been accepted by the country as yet. However, some sort of bail-out does look inevitable. A crack squad of fixers from Europe and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are heading to Ireland for 'talks'. The desired fudge – for Ireland – is a deal that can be painted as a bail-out for the banks, rather than for the state. Obviously, the reason the state is in this mess, is because the government rather foolhardily committed to stand behind the banks back in 2008. But this is politics. The Irish government needs to consider how losing control over its economic policies would play with the voters. What makes this situation difficult is that they're not the only ones who need to fret about what the voters think.

LNG Is the Future of Energy – And North America is the "New Saudi Arabia"

Sometimes the most important impact on a raw material commodity comes less from its actual extraction and more from how product is introduced into new markets. Indeed, that is becoming the next major development in North American natural gas. The expansion in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports may well hold the key to turning a glut into advancing profit.

How to protect your wealth from stagflation

The Federal Reserve's attempt to pump more inflation into the US economy by pushing up asset prices looks as though it might backfire. Ben Bernanke has already admitted that he's relying on 'the wealth effect' to help consumer confidence. The argument goes that if stock prices are higher, people feel richer, so they spend more money.

Grading the Deficit Commission: Although New Proposal Cuts Billions in Federal Spending, The Shortfall Remains

The two leaders of U.S. President Barack Obama's Deficit Commission Wednesday produced a proposal for deficit cuts that slaughtered a lot of budgetary "sacred cows" and cut $3.8 trillion off the deficit over the next 10 years. And the cuts were even made in just the right ratio – with $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases. But if there was ever a proposal that exemplified that saying "the devil is in the details," this surely is it – for everyone will find something in here that they hate. Let's take a look at the bits that I hate – after which I'll point out the proposal's strong points, before giving the commission leaders my final grade for their work.

Chinese Inflation Just Hit Its Fastest Pace In Two Years.

Chinese consumer price index grew 4.4% last month, its fastest pace in two years.

The Gold Mining Stocks are Still Cheap

It has been just one month since I stated on King World News that the gold mining stocks had begun a new bull market. The XAU Index of mining stocks closed that day at a new record high of 206.79. It closed yesterday at 220.17, up 6.5% over this period. That is a tremendous gain in such a short period of time. But do not let that spectacular performance keep you from buying and accumulating my recommended mining stocks. They remain good value, as is clear from the following chart that measures the XAU Index in terms of gold.

China Downgrades US Again, From AA To A+, Outlook Negative, Sees "Long-Term Recession", Blasts QE2, Expects Creditor Retaliation

Dagong has downgraded the local and foreign currency long term sovereign credit rating of the United States of America (hereinafter referred to as “United States” ) from “AA” to “A+“, which reflects its deteriorating debt repayment capability and drastic decline of the government’s intention of debt repayment. The serious defects in the United States economic development and management model will lead to the long-term recession of its national economy, fundamentally lowering the national solvency. The new round of quantitative easing monetary policy adopted by the Federal Reserve has brought about an obvious trend of depreciation of the U.S. dollar, and the continuation and deepening of credit crisis in the U.S. Such a move entirely encroaches on the interests of the creditors, indicating the decline of the U.S. government’s intention of debt repayment. Analysis shows that the crisis confronting the U.S. cannot be ultimately resolved through currency depreciation. On the contrary, it is likely that an overall crisis might be triggered by the U.S. government’s policy to continuously depreciate the U.S. dollar against the will of creditors.

Rampant Inflation is Coming – As Soon As 2011!!

There are 3 major reasons rampant inflation is headed our way The only real question is how far down the road are we going to get before it happens.

When Investing in Latin America, Politics Point the Way to Profits

Brazil's election win by the Workers Party candidate Dilma Rousseff has cast a dark shadow over the investment prospects of that long-fashionable "BRIC" economy. And it has underscored an important lesson for investors: In Latin America, the political climate is really the No. 1 factor in determining where to invest for the long run. In short, when looking to invest in Latin America, let politics be your guide to profits.

Ireland's woes could be good news for the pound

Candidates for "quote of the week" are coming in thick and fast this morning. There's Alan Greenspan, the world's least self-aware man, gently berating the US for "pursuing a policy of currency weakening", in the Financial Times this morning. You may remember that a strong dollar policy was not an obvious feature of Greenspan's regime at the Federal Reserve. Then there's our own Mervyn King. As he unveiled the latest quarterly inflation report, the Bank of England governor noted that in two years' time, it's "about as likely that inflation will be above the target as below it". In other words, 'we haven't a clue, but we're getting a bit worried that this deflation thing was a complete red herring'. But I think the winner, for sheer black comedy, has to be this cracker from George Papaconstantinou, the Greek finance minister (thanks to the FT's Short View column for this). In attempting to reassure the world that Greece is not about to go bust, he said: "Greece is not Ireland". I couldn't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure an Irish official said something similar during the Greek crisis earlier this year. Ah, sweet irony.

Mervyn King urges G20 leaders to agree over trade row

Mervyn King has joined President Barack Obama in calling for G20 leaders to agree united action to tackle global trade imbalances at the Seoul summit starting today.

Crunch time approaches for world economy

There was a belated admission from Mervyn King on Wednesday; ignore the Inflation Report, he seemed to be saying, because its forecasts may amount to no more than tomorrow's chip paper.

IMF warns austerity measures may have to be reconsidered

Government austerity measures may have to be rethought if the recovery slows, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

Ron Paul Is About to Totally Revolutionize the House Monetary Policy Panel

Odds are you haven’t heard of the monetary policy subcommittee. Officially known as the House Subcommittee for Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, it’s a subdivision of the House Financial Services Committee that has mostly occupied itself with pressing questions of issuing commemorative coins and whether or not to eliminate the penny.

Ireland's new toxic loans will spark social conflict, says economist

'Scary' views of Morgan Kelly who forecast Ireland's property collapse

G20 meeting

With talk of currency wars and disagreements over the US Federal Reserve’s policy of quantitative easing, the summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Seoul this week is shaping up as the latest test of international co-operation. So we should ask: co-operation to what end?

Six Ways to Profit as Consumerism Supplants Exports and China Throttles Up GDP Growth

"World Bank Sees Change in Growth Pattern" In essence, the World Bank has finally acknowledged what we've been telling you for several years – that China's accelerating domestic growth is already reducing its once-almost-total reliance on exports. This is an important validation of our investment strategies and of China's newest economic policies. Investors who see and understand these developments can expect to enjoy some significant long-term successes.

Not even QE can pump up the British housing market

The new improved batch of quantitative easing (QE2) has been pushing up asset prices almost across the board. Stock markets took a breather yesterday as the dollar bounced against the euro, as fears continue to grow over Ireland's debt woes. But gold continued to rise. However, there's one market that it seems not even QE2 can pump up. And that's the British housing market.

Markets alert for credit crunch 2.0

Is there a second credit crunch looming? Between now and the end of 2012, UK banks and building societies must find ways of refinancing between £750bn and £800bn of lending. That's a number approaching half GDP.

UK's total debt forecast to hit £10 trillion by 2015

Britain's total debt will top £10 trillion by 2015, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, which warned the burden could slow growth for decades as interest rates eventually rise.

Lessons from the 1970s

In his latest market letter, Murray Pollitt of investment house Pollitt & Co. in Toronto offers some perspective for and guidance to mining company investors.

America will survive the errors of Ben Bernanke's trigger-happy Federal Reserve

America is a resilient nation, with far healthier demographics than China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy or Russia. The storm will blow over.

Oil hits two year high as analysts predict $100 a barrel in 2011

Oil prices rose to a two-year high in New York on Friday, raising fears of a return to $100 per barrel crude and consumer goods inflation.

Vince Cable backs Diageo's attempt to buy China's Shui Jing Fang

A landmark deal that would see British drinks giant Diageo take over one of China's best-known spirit brands could be secured during trade negotiations in Beijing this week.

Are gold-backed currencies set to make a comeback?

Gold has grown increasingly popular over the past decade, as you might have noticed. It's reached the point where it's regularly covered in Sunday supplements and on the television. Plenty of entrepreneurs are jumping on the bandwagon with bullion dealers, gold vending machines, and 'sell your gold' companies springing up everywhere. Yet gold has retained that faint tang of lunacy about it. It may have gone mainstream, but it's still disreputable. Anyone with an eye to their intellectual credentials can't admit to liking gold. It's still a 'barbarous relic', of interest only to irrational 'gold bugs'. But even that may be changing now. The front page of this morning's FT reports that the head of the World Bank is calling for a new global monetary order. And there could be a role for gold in his grand vision...

Stock Market Faces Critical Test This Week

Stocks rose gently like heat waves off a radiator over the past week, as traders guessed, assessed and processed the results of the midterm elections and the Federal Reserve's decision to try to light a fire under the U.S. economy by buying a $75-billion pile of fresh, new Treasury bonds every 30 days for the next eight months. The major indexes rose 3.5% amid a set of sessions when banks finally found footing, as they were the best performing group, up 1%. Laggards were industrials and utilities, ending flat. Breadth was positive, favoring advancers by 2-1. And the number of new highs swelled to 1,200 while new lows also rose, to 80.

Doubts grow over wisdom of Ben Bernanke 'super-put'

The early verdict is in on the US Federal Reserve's $600bn of fresh money through quantitative easing. Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds jumped 20 basis points to 4.07pc.

Republican Victory and Fed Easing Means It’s Time to Shift From Commodities to U.S. Stocks

The U.S. economic and investment world has changed fundamentally in the last 48 hours from two key events: * The massive Republican victory in Tuesday's midterm elections. * And the $600 billion worth of bond purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve. These two events have changed the trajectory of the U.S. economy, probably for the next two years. As investors, we'd better adapt to them - and fast.

The eurozone is heading for a fresh crisis

George Osborne, eat your heart out. If you want to see really tough government spending cuts, you have to cross the Irish Sea. Yesterday, in its budget statement, the government doubled the size of the fiscal cuts it plans to make over the next four years, from €7.5bn to €15bn. And €6bn of that will be taken next year. These are ambitious moves. As RBS put it, it certainly demonstrates that "Ireland is a serious country". Sadly, it might not be enough to prevent Ireland from needing a bail-out in the near future...

Developing Countries Confront a Wall of Capital

The economic recovery from the Great Recession is well underway. Global industrial production and world trade have returned to their pre-crisis levels and most economies are now growing at levels close to their long-term averages.

Fed prints another $600bn to keep US recovery on track

The US Federal Reserve is to pump another $600bn (£370bn) into the economy over the next eight months in a bid to resuscitate America's flagging recovery.

Republican Midterm Election Victories Could Crush Stocks and Bonds Before Sending Them Higher

Markets have rallied on the belief that resounding Republican victories in yesterday's (Tuesday's) midterm elections will reset Washington agendas and lead to more business-friendly policies. However, market participants may be surprised to find that the successful pursuit of three major Republican principles could initially sink stocks and bonds before creating a base from which they might rally later in 2011. Indeed, following the adage "buy the rumor, sell the news" might be the best strategy for investors right now.

What does QE2 mean for your investments?

Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke delivered just what financial markets were looking for last night. The Fed is planning to buy roughly $75bn of government bonds a month between now and the middle of next year. That's $600bn in total. Stocks went up, the dollar slipped back, yet gold didn't go haywire (although it's up again this morning). So what does it all mean for investors?

Aussie dollar breaks the buck as Australia, India fight Fed with 'quantitative tightening'

Australia's dollar has blasted through parity against the US dollar after the country raised interest rates a quarter point to 4.75pc to fight inflation.

Midterms 2010: US stock markets rally as investors eye Republican win and more QE

US stock markets climbed to their highest level since the spring as a combination of hefty gains for the Republicans and the prospect of another $500bn from the Federal Reserve gave the optimists the upper hand.

Bank of England must use QE to buy 'bad mortgages', warns Fathom Consulting

Britain is in danger of creating a generation of "zombie households" that plunge the economy into a Japan-style lost decade unless policymakers take radical action to fix the banking system properly, a leading economic think tank has warned.

How Far Will Fed Go To Get Economy Rolling?

The market has been marking time lately as investors await the election results and the much -anticipated Federal Reserve announcement after the Federal Open Market Committee wraps up their meeting on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to provide a peek into its next round of quantitative easing, now considered a fait accompli. The only question seems to be how far the Fed will go to reinvigorate the economy. But unless Republicans fail to capture the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Fed's next move could provide market bulls with just the ammunition they need to send the bears running for the hills.

How the US central bank is propping up Europe’s dodgiest economies

It's all about America this week. The world's markets will be on tenterhooks until Wednesday's over. By then, we should have a good idea of the results of the mid-term elections. More importantly, the Federal Reserve will have revealed how much more money it plans to print. The Fed's money printing has annoyed leaders of many countries. The US (regardless of what its politicians say) seems to want to drive the dollar lower. The idea is that this will make its exporters more competitive. But that's bad news for rivals, particularly export-dependent countries such as Japan.

Volcker's Rule on Rules

Former Fed chairman Paul Volcker has some advice for financial regulators writing rules to define new limits on banks' ability to trade for their own accounts: be as vague as possible. At least that's the message in this WSJ piece by Deborah Solomon (for which, to be upfront, Volcker declined to comment).