Credit Matters

After the subprime crisis blew a hole in people’s reliance on credit ratings, the agencies that supply them are regularly vilified. That’s hardly surprising, writes Gary Jenkins, although markets would do well to remember what ratings are intended to show.

Each effort to tackle the European sovereign debt crisis provides more evidence of a rushed attempt to do the bare minimum. Gary Jenkins sees parallels with men’s approach to housework, and wonders if blokes are the reason why the eurozone’s rescue vehicles are about as fit for purpose as his kitchen shelves.

Does it matter how you win or lose at football? Judging by the reaction to Chelsea’s recent victory, it would appear not. But what about banks? Gary Jenkins reckons that the harsh words being heaped on JP Morgan are evidence that people care more about how banks lose money than how much of it they lose.

Analysts have been arguing over the relative merits of growth and austerity since the Eurozone sovereign crisis began. Most politicians, however, have stayed rooted in an austerity consensus. As Gary Jenkins writes, that is now breaking down.

Intrepid analyst Gary Jenkins is on a Star Trek-inspired quest, in search of Spock-like logic behind central bank actions during the various financial crises that have beset the world since 2007. He wonders what will happen when people start to worry that the fixes have done nothing for growth.

As holders of Greek debt make their final decision on whether to sign up to a deal that will lose them a fortune but might just stave off the country’s default, Gary Jenkins mulls over the change in the markets that has seen all the important stuff happen at the end of the week. He finds that nothing is certain but debt and deadlines.

With the second Greek bail-out dominating the week’s events, intrepid analyst Gary Jenkins has stumbled upon a startling document emanating from the Troika – and even more intriguing than the one that has been circulating this week.

Pampered, overpaid and prone to outbursts of emotion — top footballers clearly have nothing in common with those responsible for the smooth running of the Eurozone. But as Gary Jenkins writes, there may be a thing or two that sport might teach the eurocrats.

Gary Jenkins thinks he has discovered a new art form, something that combines the grace of Michelangelo and the surrealism and shock of Picasso and which will hold the fascination of any aficionado of the bond market.

While the eurozone lurches from one crisis of confidence to another, the cliché of what happens in desperate times is holding true. Footballers are being mobilised to steady the bond markets. As Gary Jenkins writes, they probably can’t do much worse than policymakers.

With markets as volatile as they are and political leaders falling like ninepins, it’s easy to get a bit paranoid. S&P’s blunder over its rating of France is the latest combustible element to have been thrown on to the fire. But as Gary Jenkins writes, events might not always be what they seem.

Far from getting better, the eurozone crisis is getting worse with every make-or-break summit. Gary Jenkins finds that the latest plan is nothing more than a wishlist and worries for the future of mankind if a way cannot be found to interest private investors in Spanish and Italian debt.