Monday, May 18, 2009

Quotable: risk asset investment train is leaving the station and you’d better hop on.

“Last Friday the European Commission published what were arguably the most catastrophic economic statistics produced by any official institution in the capitalist world since 1945. These figures showed that Germany has suffered the steepest economic collapse ever recorded in a major industrialised country; and that several of the countries in Central Europe and on the periphery of the eurozone are now in a state of economic and financial meltdown comparable with Argentina, Indonesia and Russia in the 1990s or with Iceland last year.”
Anatole Kaletsky

On Friday, German reported some very nasty economic news—their economy fell at a 16% annualized rate during the first quarter of 2009. An excellent summary of the key problems now facing Germany and the Eurozone is provided by Anatole Kaletsky, an economic commentator for the UK Times and resident guru for GaveKal. We have provided the key points below for your perusal[our emphasis]:
Last Friday the European Commission published what were arguably the most catastrophic economic statistics produced by any official institution in the capitalist world since 1945. These figures showed that Germany has suffered the steepest economic collapse ever recorded in a major industrialised country; and that several of the countries in Central Europe and on the periphery of the eurozone are now in a state of economic and financial meltdown comparable with Argentina, Indonesia and Russia in the 1990s or with Iceland last year.” I have described repeatedly the three interacting elements now hitting Europe in a “perfect storm”. The first element is Germany's dependence on exports, especially of capital goods, cars and other consumer durables. … The second element of the perfect storm has been the reckless lending to Central Europe and the Baltic States, especially by banks based in Austria, Sweden, Greece and Italy, which in turn have been large borrowers from German investors and banks. … The third component of the economic hurricane is the euro itself. … The ultimate result is that the European economy will be caught in a 1930s-style deflationary spiral of deteriorating credit, deflationary government policies, falling wages and even further declines in credit. The most plausible way for Europe to escape from this vicious circle will be for Germany to abandon its age-old philosophy of fiscal rigour, to embark on a large-scale fiscal stimulus and to guarantee the debts of all its partners in the eurozone. A 16% annualized beating in the economy on Friday and the euro is flat at the moment after clawing back from losses earlier this morning.Fundamentals do matter. But as we know, what matters most is the perception of the fundamentals by traders. The idea that the worst is over means the rear view mirror bad news, such as a 16% annualized fall in the economy, marks the bottom because “it can’t get any worse.” At least that’s what the move in the stocks is telling the currency crowd—risk asset investment train is leaving the station and you’d better hop on.
Fundamentals do matter. But as we know, what matters most is the perception of the fundamentals by traders. The idea that the worst is over means the rear view mirror bad news, such as a 16% annualized fall in the economy, marks the bottom because “it can’t get any worse.” At least that’s what the move in the stocks is telling the currency crowd—risk asset investment train is leaving the station and you’d better hop on.

Click on the link to read the full article.
Thanks to Black Swan Trading.

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