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Monday, August 29, 2011

Europe Update: Finland and Germany discussing Bailout for Greece

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2011 01:48:00 PM

Perhaps some progress on the next bailout for Greece ...

From Dow Jones: Finland Working To Resolve Collateral Issue - Foreign Minister

Finland expects a solution to be found for its demand for collateral from Greece before contributing to the bailout fund, the country's European Affairs and Foreign Minister said Monday.

"Finland is not out to cause problems, but to find solutions," Alexander Stubb told a joint news conference in Helsinki, after a lunch with German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer
From Bloomberg: Germany’s Hoyer Tells Finns to ‘Not Rock the Boat’ on Euro
German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer warned euro-area countries not to destabilize the currency after Finland demanded collateral in return for agreeing to a second Greek aid package.

The euro is “of utmost importance to all of us in Europe, in particular for countries like Finland and Germany,” Hoyer told reporters at a joint news conference in Helsinki today with Finnish Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Stubb. “So let us not rock the boat.”
...
Germany is “approaching the question with care” and will wait to see the outcome of the collateral model that transpires, Hoyer said. “Finland doesn’t have the reputation as a troublemaker, so I’m very optimistic.”
The Greek 2 year yield is at 45.6% and the 10 year yield increased to 18.1% today.

Here is a graph of the 10 year spread (Italy to Germany) from Bloomberg. And for Spain to Germany. The Italian spread is at 286, down from 389 on Aug 4th, and the Spanish spread is at 279, down from 398 on Aug 4th. Moving sideways.

The Portuguese 2 year yield is down a little to 13.2%. Also the Irish 2 year yield is at 8.6%. And the French 10 year is at 2.9%. So this is a Greek issue right now.

Here are the links for bond yields for several countries (source: Bloomberg):

Greece2 Year5 Year10 Year
Portugal2 Year5 Year10 Year
Ireland2 Year5 Year10 Year
Spain2 Year5 Year10 Year
Italy2 Year5 Year10 Year
Belgium2 Year5 Year10 Year
France2 Year5 Year10 Year
Germany2 Year5 Year10 Year


Earlier:
Personal Income increased 0.3% in July, Spending increased 0.8%
Summary for Week Ending August 26th (with plenty of graphs)
Schedule for Week of Aug 28th