The Greek Debt Swap: Is it a Default, or isn’t it?

By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  July 5th at 01:45 PM  | 

While you were watching imported Chinese fireworks yesterday, the Europeans were shooting off some home-grown ones. The euro has been trading down for most of the last 24 hours, as S&P and Fitch announced that they would consider the French-led rollover plan for Greek debt a “selective” default. What’s really going on is that a negotiation is taking place over what should be the credit | Read More »

Emerging Theme in Financial Markets: The US Dollar is Getting Stronger

By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  August 11th at 08:49 AM  | 

A vast movement involving enormous amounts of capital is now underway. Investors around the world are buying dollars again. And they’re selling the oil, gold and other commodities that have been serving as a hedge against dollar weakness since the Federal Reserve started aggressively cutting interest rates eleven months ago. As I write, the US dollar is trading above $1.50 to the euro. The dollar’s | Read More »