Entries from Chemicals & The Economy tagged with 'European Central Bank'
Central banks pop champagne corks as stock markets soar
Central bankers mean well. But, of course, good intentions do not guarantee good results. Their intention since the start of the 2008 crisis has been to boost financial markets. They have therefore provided $tns of liquidity, which has indeed produced...
Demographics mean growth has slowed
Western politicians have failed to take responsibility for managing the Crisis. And so, as the blog noted last week, policy is instead being made by unelected central bankers - principally Ben Bernanke at the US Federal Reserve, and Mario Draghi...
Eurozone politicians have built a Tower of Babel
Last week saw the 20th EU 'Crisis Summit'. Like the previous 19, it achieved little. Yet everyone at the meeting knew what had to be agreed: • A banking union which operates across national borders • The issuing of joint...
€489bn avoids Eurozone collapse, for now
A month ago, the former UK Finance Minister, Alastair Darling, warned that the European Central Bank (ECB) had "to recognise they have to be the lenders of the last resort". He added that "This is far worse than the banking...
Algebra is the new alchemy for central banks
The blog's Boom, Gloom and the New Normal eBook highlights the impact of the ageing Western babyboomers on future demand patterns. Yet central banks such as the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank believe demographics have nothing to...
Central banks alchemy fails to convince
Alchemists have always claimed to be able to perform the impossible. The most common claim was that they could turn lead into gold. In Europe, the European Central Bank has been trying the same trick. It claimed to turn near-worthless...
ECB's Trichet backs austerity measures
Last year, governments focused on stimulus measures, to support the global economy. Now Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), says that "with hindsight, we see how unfortunate was the oversimplified message of fiscal stimulus given to all...
The limits of central bank lending
Over the past year, much of the Western financial system has been on life support. Now the European Central Bank (ECB), like its peers, is grappling with the question of 'What happens next?' ECB Board member Lorenzo Smaghi set out...
GDP's "statistical recovery"
The blog is very interested to see the different outlooks being proposed by central bank heads. US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke claimed Friday that the financial crisis was due to "panic", rather than fundamental problems such as reckless lending. As...
Europe, N America, China cut interest rates
The blog welcomes the co-ordinated action by central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and the Banks of England and China, in cutting interest rates. Anything that suggests policymakers are starting to get their act together is...
High inflation, or global downturn?
Central bankers had it easy over the past decade. Now they are going to have to earn their money. Inflation is rising rapidly, and growth rates are falling. But unfortunately, as I first noted back in March, they still seem...
USA adds $746bn to support housing
Housing, as we know, is an absolutely key market for the chemical industry, both directly and indirectly. Directly, each new house accounts for $16k of chemical demand, whilst indirectly, years of rising western house prices has allowed consumers to cash...
Beggar my neighbour
English children have a card game called ‘Beggar my Neighbour’, where the aim is to win all the cards from your opponents. Central bankers seem to be learning its rules, and applying them to currency trading. OPEC’s weekend summit showed...
Subprime: a many-headed Hydra
Yesterday, the ECB (European Central Bank) provided an unprecedented €95bn into the region’s credit markets, to maintain liquidity. Otherwise, firms would have had problems paying their bills, and employees might not have been paid their wages. This is serious stuff,...
Stress-testing the global financial system
Yesterday’s "swings in financial derivative prices were so extreme that they implied scenarios in which the core of the global liquidity system suffers a serious assault", according to JP Morgan, the investment bank. Watch out, if current US sub-prime mortgage...
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