European Central Bank

This morning, Egan-Jones Ratings slashed its rating of the Kingdom of Spain another two notches, after cutting it two notches last week, to a rating of B. For those who are unsure, Egan-Jones uses a similar scale to S&P and Fitch, so investment grade is above BBB- and sub-investment grade is BB...

From Spanish banks to Greek elections to the ECB/China/IMF saving the world rumor du jour, there has been a flurry of headlines out of Europe for the better part of the last year and it is these headlines that have been moving the market. There is reason to be alarmed and to fear, not from a Greek...

Finally, the EUR/USD has broken out of its 1.30-1.33 range to the downside, as expected. The deterioration of sentiment in Europe is finally occurring, as the market wises up to the fact that the LTRO's did nothing other than buy time for the banking system. Remember, financial crises go through...

Tomorrow, the economic data docket is filled with inflation numbers from around the world, as well as Canadian employment data. First off, at 21:30 est, Chinese inflation, both CPI and PPI numbers, are to be released. The consensus estimates for these numbers are 3.3% year-over-year and -.5% year-...

There has been a lot of weakness in growth currencies recently, largely due to fears of a continued global slowdown. Also, a weak Euro has been one of the biggest consequences of the deflating European economy. The EUR/USD Dollar cross rate has been extremely weak over the last 10 months, trading...

Bond king and co-Chief Investment Officer of PIMCO Bill Gross thinks buying into equities is safe as long as the stock market remains a central consideration for central bankers. Speaking earlier on CNBC, Mr. Gross said that the strength of the stock market remains the main concern for Bernanke...

Financial and utility stocks have been the largest gainers in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index this morning following a series of upgrades by Goldman Sachs (NSYE: GS) and liquidity increases in the European market, decreasing credit crunch worries. Most indexes show that stock prices have been hovering...

The leaders of most European Union countries signed a new fiscal treaty aimed at preventing another sovereign debt crisis from happening. The leaders also hope that the treaty, also referred to as the fiscal compact, will reassure the markets that troubled euro zone members like Spain and Italy...

Euro zone finance ministers are meeting today in Brussels to review Greece's compliance with a number of measures that the country must implement in order to receive its latest round of bailout funds. If the finance ministers are satisfied with the steps Greece has taken since the agreements were...

In perhaps the most surprising news that burst out of Thursday morning, it would seem that global stock markets are standing pretty firm. This, despite ongoing, serious concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be turning ever so slightly more hawkish, while numbers coming out of Europe are...