Last week’s warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the surging cost of oil now represented a bigger risk for global growth than the European sovereign debt and banking crisis did not generate…

There can be little question that the cycle has turned for the Aussie. In 2009 and 2010, it seemed as though the Australian currency could do no wrong. Last year, the AUD still attracted a great deal of…

There are always winners in every crisis. In this instance, one of the big beneficiaries of Europe’s sovereign debt and banking debacle has been German house prices, which have been moving steadily higher over…

The ECB’s auction of 3Y funds back in December has been credited with any number of things, from staving off a full-scale credit crunch in the eurozone to helping the rally in peripheral bond markets and also…

Last night’s resignation by Foreign Minister (and ex-Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd has further inflamed political tensions within his Labour Party over who should lead it into the next election. After weeks of…

Against a varied group of nations intent on denying it nuclear capability, Iran has at its disposal what is arguably an even more potent weapon – the price of oil. But in this high-stakes game the cost to either…

An unexpected 46.3K increase in Australian employment last month provided the Aussie with a lift overnight, but unfortunately this has proved fleeting. Closer examination of the jobs release suggested that the…

Spending a few days in Asia is focusing my mind on the extent to which this region can detach itself from what is going on in Europe. It has successfully de-coupled from problems elsewhere (in 2007-08), but does…

Rather belatedly, Moody’s has finally recognised that the AAA debt ratings of both France and the United Kingdom cannot reasonably be defended. Austria has also (justifiably) been handed a warning notice, while…

In extremely difficult circumstances, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho deserves fulsome praise for the gusto it has displayed in attempting to rectify the gaping hole in Portugal’s national…

With Greece once again on the brink and the rest of southern Europe still in a critical condition, it is little wonder that traders have started turning away from the euro once more. For the most part the dollar…

In sharp contrast to Greece, it is difficult to be too critical of the intentions of politicians on the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has implemented significant austerity…

The UK data this week has largely served to muddy the water surrounding next week’s MPC meeting, where the Bank of England will be debating the merits of further quantitative easing. In the wake of the Q4 GDP…

For the Aussie bulls, the past few weeks have delivered some terrific returns. Just this morning the AUD managed (by only a few pips) to briefly breach the high set late in October, although it failed (again by…

The widening dichotomy between what is being asked of private sector bond-holders in Greece and the stance of the ECB looks ever more untenable and, if some reports are to be believed, this is one of the…

It has been a very impressive display by the beleaguered single currency this morning. After looking decidedly vulnerable at close to 1.30 early in the London session, it subsequently bounced to above 1.32 at one…

Greece dominated discussion at yesterday’s EU Summit but not far behind was Portugal which is also staring into the void. The yield on Portuguese 10yr bonds soared to 17.4% on Monday, up 400bp this year alone,…

Ahead of next Tuesday’s RBA meeting, the slide in house prices witnessed over recent months is a further consideration for policy authorities. In both November and December, the RBA decided to lower the target…

In contrast to many of the 16 EU Summits held over the past two years since the Greek debt crisis first erupted, yesterday’s was a particularly productive one. Firstly, twenty-five of the EU’s 27 member…

Having tried tough love on Greece for over a year now, clearly Germany has now decided that it will need to apply the blowtorch instead. The weekend FT reported that Germany is demanding that Greece cedes…