Pour Jean-Claude Trichet, il n'y a pas de crise de l'euro
LE MONDE: Le président de la Banque centrale européenne, Jean-Claude Trichet, affirme, vendredi 3 décembre, sur RTL, que l'euro est "crédible" et n'est pas "en crise en tant que monnaie", au lendemain du conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE qui a prolongé ses mesures exceptionnelles.

"On a des problèmes d'instabilité financière qui sont dus à une crise budgétaire dans certains pays européens", a-t-il ajouté, en expliquant que la BCE avait décidé jeudi de "continuer à alimenter en liquidités, sur des durées d'une semaine, un mois et trois mois, de manière illimitée, l'économie européenne". >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 03 Décembre 2010

A Vision for ECB's New Monument to the Euro

A 'Quantum Leap' in Governance of the Euro Zone Is Needed
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In a SPIEGEL interview, Jean-Claude Trichet, the 67-year-old president of the European Central Bank, discusses the largest financial rescue package in the history of Europe, the role and importance of speculators in the euro crisis and the weakness shown by politicians in the euro zone member states. >>> | Saturday, May 15, 2010

Euro Jumps as Markets Welcome €750bn Rescue
THE TELEGRAPH: The euro soared on Monday morning as investors reacted with initial relief at the €750bn plan to defend the single currency and European Monetary Union from potential collapse.

After a frantic weekend of negotiations in Brussels, the Eurozone's 16 finance ministers released a package that pledges: €440bn in loans or guarantees from Eurozone countries, €60bn from the European Union's Budget and up to €250bn from the International Monetary Fund.

The EU's monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said the agreement "proves that we shall defend the euro whatever it takes."

In a statement, the Finance Ministers said: "We are facing such exceptional circumstances today and the mechanism and the mechanism will stay in place as long as needed to safeguard financial stability," the ministers said in a statement.

The radical action, which will see the European Central Bank buy the debt of the most troubled countries, likely to include Portugal, Greece and Spain, comes as European Monetary Union faces the gravest threat in its short history. Fears that the debt crisis that has engulfed Greece would spread throughout southern Europe reached a crescendo last week. Investors welcomed the package. >>> | Monday, May 10, 2010

LE FIGARO: Euphorie sur les Bourses européennes : Le plan d'aide à la zone euro rassure les marchés. A Paris, le CAC 40 s'envole de près de 7%. Les bancaires grimpent sur des progressions à deux chiffres. >>> Par Marine Rabreau | Lundi 10 Mai 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: FTSE 100 soars as €750bn rescue package for Europe sparks global rally: The FTSE 100 joined in a stock market rally across Europe on Monday, as investors reacted with initial relief at the €750bn (£655bn) plan to defend the single currency from potential collapse. >>> | Monday, May 10, 2010

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: European Markets Surge: European stocks and the euro surged Monday, as investors took heart from a €750 billion ($954.83 billion) rescue package intended to stabilize the single currency and prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading to other member countries. >>> Michele Maatouk and Ishaq Siddiqi | Monday, May 10, 2010

Greek Debt Crisis Spreading 'Like Ebola' and Europe Must Act Now, OECD Warns
THE TELEGRAPH: The Greek debt crisis is spreading “like Ebola” and Europe must act now to protect the stability [of] the financial markets, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Parthenon, Greece. Photograph: The Telegraph
“It’s not a question of the danger of contagion; contagion has already happened,” OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said.

“This is like Ebola. When you realise you have it you have to cut your leg off in order to survive,” he added, saying the crisis is "threatening the stability of the financial system".

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, called for Eurozone countries to "urgently" agree a bail-out for Greece or risk a further decline in stock market confidence.

Mr Darling said it was "absolutely essential" that Greece's problems were sorted out "quickly, effectively and decisively", following a torrid 24 hours for world markets.

Asked on LBC Radio about the drop in the FTSE on Tuesday, the Chancellor said stock markets rise and fall but added: "That's my argument about the situation in Greece – we have got to make sure that it gets sorted out.

"But the primary responsibilities are for the other members of the euro group.

"They know that they have got to sort it out. They have promised money, and what I would say is they need to make that money available as soon as possible."

He added: "If we can sort out the problems in Greece quickly, then that will make people more confident."

The crisis in Greece sent stock markets and the euro reeling for a second day as fears grew that it would not be able pay its debts. >>> | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

ECB May Have to Turn to 'Nuclear Option' to Prevent Southern European Debt Collapse
THE TELEGRAPH: The European Central Bank may soon have to invoke emergency powers to prevent the disintegration of southern European bond markets, with ominous signs of investor flight from Spain and Italy.

Greece’s fortunes were dealt yet another blow as Standard & Poor’s slashed its credit rating to junk status - BB+ - the first time that has happened to a euro member since the single currency was created, pushing yields on 10-year Greek bonds up to a record 9.73pc.

The credit-rating agency also cut Portugal’s sovereign debt ratings by two notches to A-, as the swirling storm hit the country with full-force.

“We have gone past the point of no return,” said Jacques Cailloux, chief Europe economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.“There is a complete loss of confidence. The bond markets are in disintegration and it is getting worse every day.

“The ECB has been side-lined in the Greek crisis so far but do you allow a bond crash in your region if you are the lender-of-last resort? They may have to act as contagion spreads to larger countries such as Italy. We started to see the first glimpse of that today.”

Mr Cailloux said the ECB should resort to its “nuclear option” of intervening directly in the markets to purchase government bonds.

This is prohibited in normal times under the EU Treaties but the bank can buy a wide range of assets under its “structural operations” mandate in times of systemic crisis, theoretically in unlimited quantities. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Sorry, Ma’am! It’s Time for Us to Accept the Euro
Successive governments, along with the Bank of England, have shown that they are quite incapeable of taking good care of our currency. They’re obviuosly unable to maintain its value. Now, it seems, that dear Merve doesn’t even hide the fact! He wants a weak currency in order to “rebalance the nation’s economy”. What the hell does “rebalance the nation’s economy” mean anyway? It means nothing! These people are just trying to baffle us! What a load of bulldust it is! If these people had balanced the nation’s economy in the first place, they wouldn’t have to try and rebalance it now!

And what’s all this nonsense about quantitative easing? That’s a euphemism for printing money. History tells us where that leads to! It leads to hyperinflation.

It seems to me that neither the government nor the Bank of England are serious about maintaining a stable and valuable pound. People at the top of the banking sector don’t need to care about the pound’s falling value. All they have to do is award themselves hefty bonuses to make up for the lost value of their savings and salaries. For less privileged folk, this is not, alas, a possibility. So, with the pound falling dramatically in value and interest rates remaining very low, and likely to do so for quite some time to come, the people who are becoming poorer and poorer are ordinary folk, i.e. people who do not work in banks! Therefore, perhaps sadly, it is time to get rid of the pound and place our currency into good, safe hands – into the hands of the European Central Bank (ECB).

I, for one, am looking forward to the day when we shall have a stable and desirable currency. The euro must surely be the currency of the future of all European nations. It must surely also be the currency for the future of the United Kingdom, too. So let’s adopt it before we’ll be forced to do so by circumstances beyond our control. By that time the pound sterling may have have become next to worthless. – © Mark

Sterling Slides After BoE Chief Mervyn King Backs a Weak Pound
THE TELEGRAPH: Sterling fell to its weakest against the euro in more than 5½ months, pressured after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said a weak domestic currency was helping to rebalance the nation's economy.

The UK currency also hit a near 2½-month low versus the dollar, stung by Mr King's comment to a regional UK newspaper that sterling's fall "will be helpful" to rebalance the UK economy to one focused more on exports.

While the comments reiterated the central bank's long-held view on the currency and the economy, analysts said the market considered his remarks a good opportunity to wipe out sterling's gains made the previous day.

Sterling had rallied on Wednesday after minutes from the BoE's policy meeting earlier this month showed a unanimous vote not to extend quantitative easing in September.

Market participants said those gains had been overdone, and some analysts said that even though King's comments on Thursday did not offer new insight into the BoE's position on sterling, his statement helped to revive momentum to dump the pound.

"When the market's down on a currency, it will jump on anything that justifies selling it," said Stuart Bennett, currency strategist at Calyon in London.

"Sterling is certainly the whipping boy at the moment."

The euro climbed roughly 1.5pc on the day to 91.53p, its highest since early April. Daily trade volumes surged on the move, with the number of trades executed on the Reuters Dealing system hitting its highest in at least three months.

Thursday's move put the euro on course to posting its best daily performance against the pound since late April. >>> Reuters | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bank Calls Unprecedented Meeting of Economists
THE TELEGRAPH: The Bank of England has summoned the City's leading economists to an unprecedented meeting in Threadneedle Street, as the pound plunges amid growing confusion over its radical Quantitative Easing (QE) policy.

The Bank will host a seminar of all London's major economists next Tuesday – the first time it has invited them in en masse in recent memory – in what has been construed as a sign that it fears market participants are starting to lose faith in its efforts to pump cash into the economy. The move has also sparked speculation that it is poised to announce a major change to the monetary policy framework, although insiders dismissed such suggestions.

It came after the minutes from the Bank's latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealed that the idea of cutting the interest rate banks are paid on the reserves they hold there was not discussed this month. The pound has lurched lower in recent weeks, thanks in part to speculation that the Bank will impose charges on banks for holding excessive amounts of cash in reserve at its vaults. Under QE, it is pumping £175bn into the economy, but much of this cash is sitting in banks' reserve accounts rather than being recycled and flowing around the broader economy.

The suspicion that the Bank will soon take action to mitigate this has pushed down market interest rates sharply and contributed to an almost 5pc fall in the pound against other leading currencies. It has caused gilt prices and short-term interest rates to fluctuate wildly in recent weeks. >>> Edmund Conway and Angela Monaghan | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Quantitative easing >>>

It’s Time to Adopt the Euro >>> Mark Alexander | Saturday, September 19, 2009