Here comes the intervention...

[phirang]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=aWHkDjO1X0nU&refer=bond

[Tulpen]

From the quoted article:
"
``The ECB and BOE have stubbornly refused to cut rates, although extreme stress is visible in European financial and commercial real-estate markets,'' says Michael Shaoul (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Michael+Shaoul&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), chief executive officer at New York investment-research firm Oscar Gruss & Son Inc. ``This intransigence is unlikely to last much longer.'' "

Stubbornly? As far as I am concerned the ECB does the right thing and the Fed the wrong thing. Unlike the Federal reserve they fight inflation!

[FRED]

From the quoted article:
"
``The ECB and BOE have stubbornly refused to cut rates, although extreme stress is visible in European financial and commercial real-estate markets,'' says Michael Shaoul (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Michael+Shaoul&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), chief executive officer at New York investment-research firm Oscar Gruss & Son Inc. ``This intransigence is unlikely to last much longer.'' "

Stubbornly? As far as I am concerned the ECB does the right thing and the Fed the wrong thing. Unlike the Federal reserve they fight inflation!

Translation: "Our recommended long dollar positions are getting kicked up one wall and down the other."

[phirang]

Today, the financial media attributed the usd rally to leh and ubs... um...

[ax]

Who's going to bail UBS out when they go kablooey? Is it a joke that Citi is even pretending to be solvent?

[GRG55]

Who's going to bail UBS out when they go kablooey? Is it a joke that Citi is even pretending to be solvent?

Would the Swiss government risk letting the failure of an iconic Swiss bank like UBS take down their banking system? The reputational damage already done to Swiss private banking by the announcements from UBS and Credit Suisse are bad enough. The Swiss government is likely already rooting for a Euro rate cut (to drag the Swiss franc down by association).

Judging by the garish rooftop signs that ring Le Lac Lemans (the lake of Geneva) the Swiss economy consists of banking and expensive mechanical watch manufacturing, and not much else. They will bail out their banks if necessary, would be my guess.

[krakknisse]

And more from Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azIQFN4hE80k) (my emphasis - note especially "benefit everyone" - ha ha! - speed bumps ahead):


EU Seeks Coordinated G-7 Response to Credit Squeeze (Update1)
April 5 (Bloomberg) -- European finance ministers will press their counterparts from the Group of Seven major industrialized nations for greater coordination in battling the credit squeeze that threatens global economic growth, according to the draft of a confidential report prepared for next week"s meeting.

Central banks and governments around the world have struggled to rein in a surge in the cost of credit that began in August. Banks and securities firms have posted $232 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses stemming from the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. "It is important to coordinate global responses, not least within the G-7, to the challenges the world economy is facing in terms of financial-market turbulence," according to the European document, which was discussed by euro-area finance chiefs yesterday. "Authorities must remain vigilant to further policy responses that may be needed, in particular aimed at stemming mechanisms with a potential to amplify the effects of the turmoil," the paper, which was obtained by Bloomberg News, said. The final version of the report will be presented to finance ministers and central bankers from the G-7 when they meet in Washington on April 11 to discuss the economic outlook. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday that international monetary policy makers continue to discuss possible solutions to the financial crisis.

"Bad News"
"The general sentiment is that the turmoil is not over, that there is still possible bad news in the pipeline," Italian Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Brdo. While central banks say they are in constant communication, there has been little in the way of a uniform response beyond December"s decision to auction dollars. The U.S. Federal Reserve has slashed its benchmark rate by 3 percentage points since last August, while the ECB has left its rate at a six-year high of 4 percent. Each G-7 central bank also has differed on how much money it has been willing to pump into the banking system and what collateral it is willing to accept. In spite of the central banks injecting liquidity into markets, the cost of borrowing in euros for three months this week reached 4.7 percent, the highest since Dec. 27, according to the European Banking Federation.

Coordinated Response
"If ever there was a time to try and agree on some things and to coordinate policy to help the world economy and financial system, this is it," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York. "A common set of responses would benefit everyone." To ease the stresses in markets, the European ministers want banks to disclose their exposure to distressed assets and improve their management of risk, the document said. It warned that "it cannot be excluded that global operating banks will face further deterioration in the credit quality of their assets, perhaps even extending to corporate loans." With the record prices for oil and other commodities compounding the threats to the world economy "the risks are clearly tilted on the downside" for global growth, the briefing document said. The International Monetary Fund said this week it cut its 2008 forecast for expansion in the world to 3.7 percent from 4.1 percent in January and called the financial crisis the worst since the Great Depression.
more... (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azIQFN4hE80k)