Germany

The euro/U.S. dollar spot rate hit its lowest level in about two years during Friday's session. The ever increasing concerns over the European debt crisis have caused the Euro to slide lower and also sparked speculations that the Economic and Monetary Union might be falling apart. The rumors of a...

US stock futures are higher this morning, recouping some losses from yesterday when we saw a 2% reversal in stocks to close on the absolute lows. Stocks opened on high's yesterday, as traders hoped that the Spanish bailout would be a real game changer. However, fears soon rose over the amount of...

As the UEFA European Championship, commonly known as Euro 2012, continues through the first matches of the group stage, an interesting pattern arises. Of all sixteen nations in the tournament, only three nations, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Ireland, have not defaulted since the year 1300....

The recent turmoil in Spain has been at the forefront of all investors radars. Whatever the cost of bailing out Spain and recapitalizing its banks may be a priority, the Europeans will be forced to use up the remaining firepower that exists in the bailout funds to do so. Estimates on Wall Street...

All you hear about in the financial media today is the risk of a Greek exit of the European Monetary Union, or a Grexit as it has been coined, and they all seem to be taking it as more of a when and less of an if. However, is this really the correct way for investors to be considering Greece, since...

Tomorrow is the informal meeting of the European Commission and the European heads of state, which is a meeting to help set the agenda and decide on exactly what they will sign at the formal meeting in June. There will be lots of headlines and quoting of every person there, but I think that there...

The New York Times’ reporters covering Europe’s financial, social, and political crises continue to channel Berlin and demonstrate an ignorance of economics so profound that it rivals the Wall Street Journal’s editorial writers and columnists. On May 18, 2012 the NYT published “Rising Greek...

German Chancellor Merkel wishes to stamp out any belief that there is a “magic bullet” to deal with the renewed euro zone crisis.  Merkel’s response to the crisis, however, is the fundamental cause of the second-stage of the crisis and it is the product of magical (un)realism – a series of...

The ECB did not change its rates earlier today, consistent with investor expectations. Both Spain and France had strong demand for bond auctions today. Spain's yield was nearly 5% on its longest term offering, a significant increase. With ECB rates holding steady at a record low 1%, today's...

Shortly after signing an agreement with 25 other European Union leaders for a new fiscal treaty that would punish euro zone countries that failed to meet budget targets, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dropped the bombshell that Spain was going to run a bigger 2012 deficit than the one it had...