Market Holiday

[walenk]

Memo to self: check that ATM card still works.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aP5mpMUORBWM

Berlusconi Says Leaders May Close World's Markets (Update1)

By Steve Scherer

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they ``rewrite the rules of international finance.''

``The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed,'' Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis ``can't just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global.''

[Laura]

Re: Market Holiday

http://theseuncertaintimes.blogspot.com/


Karl has got an idea . . . .

[metalman]

Re: Market Holiday

http://theseuncertaintimes.blogspot.com/


Karl has got an idea . . . .

why do i think you are karl's wife/girlfriend?

[mattley]

Re: Market Holiday

Yesterday Ber. was talking about rewriting the rules from scratch. Today we get bland headlines about the Five Point Plan, which is basically more of the same.

I don't understand why one guy got off message here. Trolling for press, or speaking his hopes rather than the current reality, or blabbing more than he was supposed to?

[ASH]

Re: Market Holiday

Yesterday Ber. was talking about rewriting the rules from scratch. Today we get bland headlines about the Five Point Plan, which is basically more of the same.

I don't understand why one guy got off message here. Trolling for press, or speaking his hopes rather than the current reality, or blabbing more than he was supposed to?

From what I understand, Berlusconi is one of the less substantive national leaders. I think he is given to bombast, and seeking press. Of the nations involved, I would think Italy's input matters somewhat less than that of some others, such as Germany. In short, Berlusconi is both less likely to be shaping events, and more likely to be issuing unfounded pronouncements without coordination with the other leaders.

One of the barriers to implementation of sweeping changes of the sort Berlusconi hinted at is disunity and divergent interests amongst the various nations. Those who think the rest of the world has no choice but to dance to the dollar's tune may yet be proven right, but I think the idea that the cats are well herded isn't proven. Bland news about more of the same tends to confirm the view that the world can't agree upon anything sweeping and new.

[Supercilious]

Re: Market Holiday

http://theseuncertaintimes.blogspot.com/


Karl has got an idea . . . .

why do i think you are karl's wife/girlfriend?

Laura please don't mind metalman. Sometimes he feels the need to be rude and arrogant way beyond the level of being clueless, especially with new iTulipers (he is less fearful of being sent to his corner by new members).

The Genesis Plan doesn't seem to be workable IMHO. IMHO there is no way one could find a global honest, impartial and non corrupt arbitrage system for the CDS mess.

[metalman]

Re: Market Holiday

Laura please don't mind metalman. Sometimes he feels the need to be rude and arrogant way beyond the level of being clueless, especially with new iTulipers (he is less fearful of being sent to his corner by new members).

The Genesis Plan doesn't seem to be workable IMHO. IMHO there is no way one could find a global honest, impartial and non corrupt arbitrage system for the CDS mess.

laura,
pay no attention to *%&$%$&. he's most supercilious. he claims to be way ahead of itulip but never bothers to share his brilliant trades that got him there, so no one believes him. also, didn't mean to imply that a wife/girlfriend relation is the only possibility. maybe you are his boyfriend and are registered here as 'laura' as a ruse. in any case, not the only one here who has noticed you only ever post links to karl's market-ticker site, directly or not, and no other comments... ever. that is what is known as 'spam'.
yer pal,
metalman

[BrianL]

Re: Market Holiday

From http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=atCuvgoaM70Q

"Less than an hour later, Berlusconi, 72, corrected himself: ``The hypothesis wasn't put forward by any leader, including myself,'' he said. His explanation for the earlier statement: ``I heard it on the radio.''

[Louie.G]

Re: Market Holiday

From http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=atCuvgoaM70Q

"Less than an hour later, Berlusconi, 72, corrected himself: ``The hypothesis wasn't put forward by any leader, including myself,'' he said. His explanation for the earlier statement: ``I heard it on the radio.''

And now from another front.... Got his from Stratfor who do Geo-Political studies

Link for full report is - http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/200...is_open_access

"The finance ministers of the G-7 countries are meeting in Washington. The first announcements on the meetings will come this weekend. It is not too extreme to say that the outcome of these meetings could redefine how the financial markets work, certainly for months and perhaps for a generation. The Americans are arguing that the regime of intervention and bailouts be allowed to continue. Others, like the British, are arguing for what in effect would be the nationalization of financial markets on a global scale. It is not clear what will be decided, but it is clear that this meeting matters.

The meetings will extend through the weekend to include members of the G-20 countries, which together account for about 90 percent of the global economy. This meeting was called because previous steps have not freed up lending between financial institutions, and the financial problem has increasingly become an economic one, affecting production and consumption in the global economy. The political leadership of these countries is under extreme pressure from the public to do something to solve — or at least alleviate — the problem.

Underlying this political pressure is a sense that the financial class, people who run global financial institutions, have failed to behave responsibly and effectively, and have therefore lost their legitimacy. The expectation, reasonable or not, is that the political system will now supplant these managers and impose at least a temporary solution. The finance ministers therefore have a political mandate, almost global in scope, to act decisively. The question is what they will do?"

........

"The G-7 is looking hard for a solution that will not require this level of intrusion, both because they don’t want to abolish markets even temporarily, and more important, because they have no idea how to manage this on a global scale. They very much want to have the problem solved with liquidity injections and bailouts. Their inclination is to give the current regime some more time. The problem is that the global equity markets are destroying value at extremely high rates and declines are approaching historic levels.

In other words, a crisis in the financial system is becoming an economic problem — and that means public pressure will surge, not decline. Therefore, it is plausible that they might choose to ask for what FDR did in 1933, a bank holiday, which in this case would be the suspension of trading on equity markets globally for several days while administrative solutions are reached. We have no information whatsoever that they are thinking of this, but in starting to grapple with a problem of this magnitude — and searching for solutions on this scale — it is totally understandable that they might like to buy some time.

It is not clear what they will decide. Fundamental issues to watch for are whether they move from manipulating markets through government intrusions that leave the markets fundamentally free, or do they abandon free markets at least temporarily."

When finance moves to Politics, all bets are off I guess.

Cheers