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90 seconds at 9 am: Catalonia pushes for independence; Greece failing; US housing recovering, consumers more confident; Aust car manufacturing without a future; National's demise?

90 seconds at 9 am: Catalonia pushes for independence; Greece failing; US housing recovering, consumers more confident; Aust car manufacturing without a future; National's demise?

Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that things in Europe seem to be getting worse. The Catalan regional government appears to be using the current weakness to push for independence. Bond yields rose sharply on these new tensions. The pain in Spain is still rising fast as austerity bites hard. In Greece, it is becoming clear that they are far - very far - from meeting the conditions for the next round of funding for their bailout. Something will break somewhere soon. Standard & Poors are warning of a sharp euro recession over rthe next two years at least.

Staying in Europe, the British Bankers Association is reported to have been forced to give up the role of administering Libor - not a surprise perhaps given the scandals, but it has happened.

The news is better in the US however. Consumer confidence there has risen to a seven month high. Their housing market is still gathering strength, according to new data, and in an encouraging sign, the gains appear to be spreading even to the cheapest homes in many cities. But a full blown return to previous conditions is not expected.

In China, there are reports that the central bank has 'flooded' its domestic markets with liquidity - adding more than NZ$50 billion ahead of some expected holiday pressures. Social tensions there as the Chinese economy stutters are a big concern in Beijing.

In Australia, a government official has said the obvious; that the Australian car manufacturing industry indistry is too small to compete and will soon get integrated into the international supply systems of the big manufacturers. Basically, the Aussies can't afford the subsidies to keep that industry going. And Australian car buyers are paying way over a fair price for their vehicles - and a huge amount more than we pay in New Zealand.

The big local news overnight is the report in the DomPost that ANZ-National staff are about to be briefed on the closure of the National Bank brand and its absorption into ANZ. There is more on this story here » The bank itself says no decision has been made yet.

The NZ$ starts today at 82.3 USc - about where it has been for about two weeks - and 73.1 on the TWI.

No chart with that title exists.

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25 Comments

US housing is in recovery - along with the accompanying consumer confidence and spending.

That is very big news - since the crash of that market triggered the whole GFC.

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I wouldn't put too much faith in the New York Times story that David has linked as his source.  The NYT is just another mouthpiece for the US Gov't.  Don't forget that a recent report showed that 31% of all US mortgages are currently underwater.

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You may have overlooked this mornings Merchandise trade figures.It will be intersting how the markets respond if there is suprise ( the models have little predictive qualities,they are responsive to stochastic information)

The underlying information is that production  is sensitive to the financials  overburdens such as the TWI , it will intersting to observe the time sensitive response.

 

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Australian car manufacturing indistry

Love the Aussie twang on it David ...subtle and clever...!

S.K.....not so much that it triggered , but was the first mirror to crack , then shatter, in the Global Fractional Banking illusion.....if it had not been sub prime, it would have been another mirror.

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the pain in Spain falls mainly on the plain (and simple).

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I theenk maybe thee worm she ees turning Senor economist.

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Who here understands guns? I had a chucke from this one on Fibonacci at zerohedge:

 

61.8% of .357 is .22lr so i guess you are right....!

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Here's a link to the Organisers of the Spanish Civil unrest...they are talking revolution, and have a very practical view about the tactics they expect from the Police and armed forces.

 If they are as organised and motivated as it looks, the next week will have cause for Obama to start doling out the speeches he's currently reserved for Syria......

http://spanishrevolution11.wordpress.com/

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Europe, and the world, is getty scary

...revolutions in middle east, now formenting in europe.....next ?

I think the money printers, Bernankie and his ilk, are going to end in tears before too long

 

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An interesting read. I will put some perspective on that for you. Metropolitan Madrid has a population of 6.5 million(wikipedia) and a ratio of police to 100,000 population of between 3-400. Taking the average of that at 350 we can assume around 23000 police officers in Madrid. Of that less than half would be front line, so 11,500. To cover the 24hr clock it takes 5 shifts, so 2300 beat cops on patrol at any one time. So 1400 police to cover the riot is a significant draw on resources which leave the rest of the city short. 

According to the report you linked to the police got the butts kicked. I would say the ability to undertake this sort of operation will grind them down over time. Lets face it there is nothing on the horizon to keep the unemployed otherwise occupied.

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The population will win in the end...

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And that is the problem in itself ...rp...in the end 

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Or by the fact that people have got to this point means they have already lost.

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Yes it will likely escalate, but then once one side starts shooting what option do the other side have? Like I say the causes of the discontent are only going to increase.

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omt is out,troublesome is that exports to AUS or down 17% yr/yr

 

 

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US Housing Recovery..I think not

The Fed is increasingly becoming the key player in the US property market, thus persisting in confusing the problems of liquidity and solvency. US households don’t have any more money to buy or build houses (8). Mortgage interest rates won’t change anything here. Only Wall Street, for a certain time, will be able to continue surfing on record levels until one “beautiful morning” everything collapses due to a sudden awareness that the real economy is sinking into depression. 

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"Sentiment in Greece has turned, and likely turned for good. 57% of Greeks have had enough of austerity to the point they would rather default."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.co.nz/#kiDaC5xU75KtzGbS.99

Ditto Spain....next up....Italy Portugal .....

Oh dear oh dear the bankers face ruin...no more peasant populations left to fleece...

The best future is one without the euro...without the nannycrats and wannabe lords of bureaucracy running europe.

 

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They aint gonna give up without a fight Wallly.

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It's not Cricket AJ.......!!!

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Churchill once said that 'the wars of peoples will be more terrible than the wars of Kings'

 That a 'European war cannot be anything but a cruel heart-rending struggle'.

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Not banker wolly, us the voter.  If there is any private cash in greece, yes held by EU banks, but if Greece defaults the bank(s) Govn(s) will step in and keep the banks going, voter gets the bill.  The rest of the debt is held by the ECB which really means voter gets the bill.

Its musical chairs except the voter is chained upright by the neck.

 

PS You missed Ireland....they have knuckled down but if the Meds default the chances of Ireland not strike me as zero.

Bankers will have taken their bonuses and "retired" or bailed to the Caribean for "extended hols"

regards

 

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Didnt know you were a fundie von mises advocate wolly....

"This deficit has a present value of $222 trillion. This means that the federal government, today, must invest $222 trillion in market investments that will return about 5% per year for the next 75 years. No such investments exist, and the federal government does not have $222 trillion in reserve. The Federal Reserve system could print that, of course, but then that would only lead to hyperinflation"

Which shows how farcical the US's position is.  What he assumes of course is it will just keep building rather than collapse in a Greater Depression.

regards

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"In any event, the damage to Japan’s business interests in China was substantial."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.co.nz/#VjvKVJOZXMC250XS.99

Think of pain and losses the Chinese fake makers will have to take....

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