Credit Matters

The idea that instead of buying bonds directly the EFSF provides a partial guarantee on new issuance just doesn’t stack up. More meditation is needed — and quickly — says Gary Jenkins.

The eurozone’s political leaders don’t seem to have much of a plan to deal with the crisis. Or if they do, they are keeping pretty quiet about it. Gary Jenkins wonders what they can throw together in the next few weeks.

Who says romance is dead? The US Federal Reserve’s latest attempt to get the economy moving, ‘Operation Twist’, and Europe’s sovereign debt saga have got Gary Jenkins thinking about Meg Ryan and that scene.

It used to be said that the markets were all about greed and fear but it’s probably fair to say that they are now all about hope and despair. Gary Jenkins thinks this sums up his feelings about the Welsh Rugby World Cup campaign very nicely.

There is a theory which states that, if anyone ever discovers exactly what the rating agencies are for and why they are here, they will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

We all like a bit of danger in our lives, and Gary Jenkins, who is off to Milford Haven for his summer holidays, is no exception. But even he draws the line at Cocos. As for a US default, that’s just too scary to even begin to contemplate.

Gary Jenkins is no footballer. But even he has noticed that the number and size of cans that the EU might need to boot down the road would challenge even the best Champions League players.

“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane —Lenny Bruce is not afraid…”

Another week, another attack on the rating agencies, the source of the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis — or so some politicians would have you believe. But Gary Jenkins reckons the agencies are in a tough spot, damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Reaching agreement between the European Union, the ECB and the bond market over what to do about the European sovereign debt crisis was never going to be easy. But that doesn’t put the situation beyond all hope. Gary Jenkins suggests a solution.

What’s in a word? Quite a lot, as Gary Jenkins discovers when mulling the fortunes of Greece while immersing himself in the world of the Sopranos during some enforced time away from the office. He prefers to call a spade a spade, and wonders why others disagree.

Inspired by a Sandra Bullock film and a recent mishap with his car, Gary Jenkins has been thinking a lot about insurance. And given the possibility of lenders being asked to accept a voluntary extension of Greek debt, he wonders what the effect will be on the sovereign CDS market.