Titoli di Stato area Euro GRECIA Operativo titoli di stato - Cap. 1

[tommy271]

Germany Rules Out Bond Buybacks by Bailout Fund, Official Says

By Tony Czuczka - Feb 2, 2011 2:24 PM GMT+0100


Wed Feb 02 13:24:54 GMT 2011
Germany ruled out allowing the European Union bailout facility to fund bond buybacks from debt- strapped governments as euro-area officials struggle to narrow differences on a strategy to end the region’s financial crisis.
A German government official briefing reporters before a Feb. 4 EU summit said the 440 billion-euro ($607 billion) European Financial Stability Facility lacks the legal authority to purchase the outstanding debt to ease finances of countries including Greece. European officials have said such measures are being considered as part of a revamped crisis strategy.
The one-day gathering in Brussels will review debt-crisis options and reaffirm a self-imposed March 25 target to strengthen the bailout fund, set up a permanent rescue mechanism and proclaim new rules against fiscal slippage, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said today.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Jan. 28 there was no consensus among EU finance ministers on buybacks in their talks to make the fund more “efficient, flexible.”
While Germany was committed to bolstering the fund, the official said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy would propose at the summit a package of measures intended to boost the euro region’s competitiveness.
Euro-region governments must improve economic policy coordination to try to level differences in competitiveness, using gauges such as tax rates and wages, the official said.
He also said euro-area governments must give priority to restoring public finances, possibly using the constitutional debt limits adopted by Germany in 2009 as a model.
Germany, the biggest of the 17 euro nations, is making its assent to the expanded rescue effort conditional on tougher controls of countries’ finances, say four officials involved in the talks who declined to be named because the deliberations aren’t public. Existing budget rules have gone unenforced since the euro’s debut in 1999.



(Bloomberg)

 

[frmaoro]

qualcosa rimasto indietro ??
suggerimenti???
che ho 15k da investire

 

[tommy271]

qualcosa rimasto indietro ??
suggerimenti???
che ho 15k da investire

Adesso stanno "ritracciando" un pochino, dopo la battuta d'arresto legata alle vicende del EFSF.
D'altra parte, se la situazione non è "allarmante" non ci sarà bisogno di accelerare il passo come invece era parso in questi ultimi giorni.
La Germania vorrà avere garanzie sulla condotta di gestione dei deficit pubblici come contropartita all'aumento dei fondi al EFSF.
Questo fine settimana diverrà interlocutorio e sarà rimandato tutto a marzo.
Sempre che nel frattempo la situazione non torni a farsi infuocata ...

 

[tommy271]

Germany Rules Out Fund Buybacks as Leaders Plan Summit Pledge

February 02, 2011, 9:30 AM EST

By Tony Czuczka and James G. Neuger




Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Germany ruled out allowing the European Union bailout facility to fund bond buybacks from debt- strapped governments as euro-area officials struggle to narrow differences on a strategy to end the region’s financial crisis.

A German government official briefing reporters before a Feb. 4 EU summit said the 440 billion-euro ($607 billion) European Financial Stability Facility lacks the legal authority to purchase the outstanding debt to ease finances of countries including Greece. European officials have said such measures are being considered as part of a revamped crisis strategy.

The euro reached a three-month high today and bond-risk premiums for Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium narrowed for a third day as investors bet Europe would succeed in reinforcing its arsenal to battle the year-old crisis. Leaders are preparing a pledge to defend the euro, seeking to keep markets at bay until a late-March deadline to bridge differences over budget rules, rescue-loan rates and buybacks.

“The current market situation is one of expectations,” Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in an interview in Athens today. “It would be a big mistake to conclude an agreement that falls short of these expectations.”

The one-day gathering in Brussels will review debt-crisis options and reaffirm a self-imposed March 25 target to strengthen the bailout fund, set up a permanent rescue mechanism and proclaim new rules against fiscal slippage, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said.

‘Efficient, Flexible’

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Jan. 28 there was no consensus among EU finance ministers on buybacks in their talks to make the fund more “efficient, flexible.”

While Germany was committed to bolstering the fund, the official said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy would propose at the summit a package of measures intended to boost the euro region’s competitiveness.

Euro-region governments must improve economic policy coordination to try to level differences in competitiveness, using gauges such as tax rates and wages, the official said.

He also said euro-area governments must give priority to restoring public finances, citing the constitutional debt limits adopted by Germany in 2009 as a model.

Germany, the biggest of the 17 euro nations, is making its assent to the expanded rescue effort conditional on tougher controls of countries’ finances, say four officials involved in the talks who declined to be named because the deliberations aren’t public. Existing budget rules have gone unenforced since the euro’s debut in 1999.

Direct Bond Purchases

While direct purchases of distressed countries’ bonds in the primary market will be part of the toolkit, other pieces -- such as lower interest rates on aid and boosting the EFSF’s firepower -- have yet to fall into place, the officials said.

Buying bonds directly instead of offering bailout loans, as the emergency fund does now, may enable struggling countries to retain access to markets and escape the stigma of dependence on rescue financing, said the people.

Bond purchases were the original declared purpose of the European Financial Stability Facility, which was cobbled together on a May weekend after a hastily engineered 110 billion-euro loan package for Greece failed to calm markets.

Germany scuttled that approach, retooling the EFSF to offer loans so it would have more leverage to force countries receiving aid to cut budget deficits and overhaul their economic management.

Plans to reinforce the fund have been driven by a German reconsideration under way since Merkel’s insistence on losses for private bondholders helped push Ireland into a bailout in November.

Fund’s Firepower

Cash buffers and guarantees cap EFSF lending at around 250 billion euros, depriving it of the firepower to buy back enough outstanding bonds to make a difference to the most debt-mired nations. While officials are discussing ways to get the AAA- rated fund up to its stated potential, there’s no proposal on the table to increase its headline figure.

Under what was designed as a stopgap policy in May, the European Central Bank has bought 76.5 billion euros of bonds of countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal to maintain a lid on their borrowing costs.

As the ECB refocuses on stemming inflation, which accelerated to a two-year high of 2.4 percent in January, political leaders are looking to relieve it of the bond-market interventions that were never part of its core mission.

In a sign that the immediate pressure is off, the ECB didn’t do any buying last week, its first absence from the debt markets in three months. The euro reached $1.3862, the highest since Nov. 9, before slipping 0.3 percent to $1.3788 at 3:10 p.m. in Berlin.

Bond Gains

Portugal’s 10-year bond yield fell 12 basis points to 6.81 percent today, trimming the extra yield over German debt to 360 basis points, the lowest since Dec. 21. Portugal sold 1.255 billion euros of bills today at declining borrowing costs.

Spain’s AA credit rating was affirmed yesterday by Standard & Poor’s, which said its outlook remained “negative.” Spain’s 10-year yield spread over German bonds slid 10 basis points to 184 basis points today, the lowest since Nov. 3.

Spain will “never” need a bailout, Deputy Finance Minister Jose Manuel Campa said today on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse” with Andrea Catherwood. Economy Minister Elena Salgado told Onda Cero radio it would be “beyond all logic at the moment” to request an IMF credit line.

 

[tommy271]

ZONA EURO STA CONSIDERANDO SERIAMENTE ACQUISTI BOND PAESI IN DIFFICOLTA' SU MERCATO PRIMARIO DA PARTE DI FONDO EFSF - FONTI

Reuters - 02/02/2011 16:06:36

Qui ognuno dice la sua ...
Accontentiamoci, nel frattempo, della realtà dei numeri.
Almeno quelli sono positivi ...

 

[tommy271]

La Borsa di Atene ha chiuso confermando le posizioni acquisite in una giornata abbastanza contrastata.
L'indice ASE segna 1664 punti con un +0,03.
Anche oggi i volumi scambiati sono stati altissimi a 224 MLN.

I nostri spread seguono anch'essi le onde altalenanti intorno alla questione del EFSF, rimaniamo comunque sui minimi degli ultimi mesi. Ora intorno a 767 punti base.

 

[tommy271]

Euro zone seriously considering letting EFSF buy bonds directly from distressed gov’ts

Wed, Feb 02 2011, 15:15 GMT | Forex Live


By: Jamie Coleman

The facility could buy the bonds directly from the governments rather than in the secondary market...This would give the likes of Greece and Ireland market access at better rates than they can get in the market themselves... Traders have gotten very comfortable with the idea of a very flexible EFSF... EUR/SD trades back above 1.38, now at 1.3807.

(fxstreet.com)

 

[frmaoro]

venerdì decisivo chi vuole scommetta ora dopo troppo tardi

 

[tommy271]

Greece Confident on EU Accord, Papaconstantinou Says

February 02, 2011, 10:36 AM EST

By Maria Petrakis
(Updates with lending rates in seventh paragraph, Campa in tenth paragraph.)


Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said he’s confident European leaders will forge a “comprehensive” agreement next month to stem Europe’s debt crisis that will narrow bond spreads and allow the country to return to capital markets.

“The current market situation is one of expectations,” Papaconstantinou said in an interview in Athens today. “It would be a big mistake to conclude an agreement that falls short of these expectations.”

A European Union summit in Brussels on Feb. 4 will “point to the direction and give a timetable for the comprehensive package to be agreed upon” next month, he said. The difference between the yield on Greece’s 10-year bond and comparable German debt fell to 760 basis points, the lowest in almost six months.

European leaders are seeking to advance a plan to strengthen the EU’s bailout mechanism in a bid to end the debt crisis that forced Greece and Ireland to seek emergency aid. The Feb. 4 meeting will seek to keep markets at bay until a late- March deadline to bridge differences over budget rules, rescue- loan rates and bond buybacks.

A pledge to allow Greece to stretch out the maturities of its 110 billion-euro ($152 billion) bailout package, crafted before the EU forged its broader bailout fund, will “very much help in assuaging these fears,” Papaconstantinou said. A comprehensive package “will soothe markets, will bring down spreads throughout the periphery and thereby allow Greece to return to capital markets sooner rather than later.”

Lower lending rates for the EFSF ‘will also apply for obvious reasons of equal treatment to the loan package for Greece,” he said.
“The time for fire-fighting is over and we all realize that,” Papaconstantinou said. “The euro zone has proven that even though the decision-making process is complicated, it always rallies and it is there when it’s necessary to act.”

German Role

Germany, the biggest of the 17 euro nations, is making approval of the new measures conditional on tougher controls of countries’ finances, say four officials involved in the talks who declined to be named because the deliberations aren’t public. Existing budget rules have gone unenforced since the euro’s debut in 1999.

Greece’s 300 billion euros of debt sparked the European sovereign-debt crisis after Prime Minister George Papandreou revealed the country’s budget gap was four times the EU limit. The bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund has failed to stem soaring borrowing costs amid concern that Greece may default. The crisis threatens to engulf Portugal and Spain after Ireland sought aid late last year.

Spain will “never” need an EU bailout, Deputy Finance Minister Jose Manuel Campa said today on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse” with Andrea Catherwood.

“We’d like to support any ideas that come up with a stronger euro, with more European integration and stronger commitment to euro-area stability,” Campa said when asked about expanding the EU rescue fund’s powers. “But in no way is this something we are viewing as specific for Spain to use.”

The euro climbed to a three-month high today and bond-risk premiums for Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium narrowed for a third day as investors bet Europe would succeed in reinforcing its arsenal to battle the crisis. The yield on Greece’s 10-year bonds is at 10.73 percent, the first time it has fallen below 11 percent since Nov. 3.

Papaconstantinou said a complete package wasn’t a substitute for Greece’s attempts to rein in its deficit, which soared to 15.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 after an EU review of hidden debt and loss-making state enterprises.

Greece’s central-budget shortfall shrank 37 percent last year as Papaconstantinou cut wages and pensions in an overhaul demanded in return for the bailout funds. The government is working on measures to shave a further 5 percentage points of GDP off the deficit between 2012 and 2014, with two-thirds coming from spending cuts, he said.

 

[tommy271]

PUNTO 1 - Zona euro studia acquisti bond da parte di Efsf -fonti

mercoledì 2 febbraio 2011 16:58


(Aggiunge dettagli)


BRUXELLES, 2 febbraio (Reuters) - I paesi della zona euro stanno studiando seriamente l'eventualità di consentire al fondo di salvataggio Efsf di acquistare titoli di Stato di paesi in difficoltà sul mercato primario. Lo riferiscono funzionari della zona euro.

La misura potrebbe essere parte di un pacchetto completo di nuovi interventi contro la crisi del debito che i paesi della zona euro potrebbero concordare a marzo.

"C'è questa idea sul tavolo e ci sono buone possbilità che anche questo faccia parte della 'cassetta degli attrezzi' finale", ha detto una fonte a conoscenza delle negoziazioni. Per una seconda fonte europea l'idea "raccoglie in effetti abbstanza consensi" e non si discosta eccessivamente dall'attuale attività dell'Efsf di concedere dei prestiti ai governi.

Allo stesso tempo, però, potrebbe rafforzare la fiducia dei mercati facilitando il ritorno su di essi di un Paese tagliato fuori.
"Non sarebbe molto diverso ... ma darebbe più flessibilità all'Efsf".

"A un certo punto puoi vendere i titoli o, per esempio, ridurre progressivamente la quota di un'emissione acquistata in modo da avere un progressivo agevole ritorno al mercato".

Secondo la fonte l'ipotesi di acquisti sul primario non incontra l'opposizione della Germania che, su basi legali, contesta la possiblità di acquisti di titoli di Stato sul secondario da parte dell'Efsf. Il governo tedesco non ha chiarito la propria posizione sull'idea. In passato alcuni funzionari del governo tedesco hanno chiarito in privato che ogni forma di acquisto di obbligazioni da parte dell'Efsf sarebbe inaccettabile.

La conferma che l'idea sia sul tavolo arriva oggi da quattro fonti, secondo le quali però non è stata presa alcuna decisione.
"Si tratta di un pacchetto complessivo", commenta una terza fonte. "Per cui anche se si arrivasse a un accordo su questo non significa niente dato che, a meno che ci sia accordo su tutto, non c'è accordo su niente".