Liams Last Post : Central Bank Governor pours fuel on fire..

Good Afternoon ,

 

I have to say that for those of us who fondly remember the 4^th Quarter of 2008 this takes the biscuit.

 

Today we had the spectre of the Governor of the Central Bank casting doubts on the adequacy of the levels of Bank capital requirements in Ireland , this had a particularly damning impact on Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent. You have to wonder how someone in his position  could raise this spectre just months after the government backed a rights issue and the new regulator underscored his confidence with the capital adequacy of the Bank in the first place. Surely a person in this position of responsibility has at least a duty to not be doing solo runs re policy on a whim and that he should be working with all the authorities to provide a coherent framework for a solution and to provide calm. Instead he has poured fuel onto the fire.

 

Meanwhile the government in waiting as in Labour and Fine Gael have likewise seen their leaders indulge in party politics before the national interest.  I am looking forward to the election and but I am developing a rather long list of those who will not be getting my vote… This afternoon in the Dail the leader of Fine Gael just happened to have an idea to raise the pressure in the markets once more by asking the Taoiseach to assure the house that depositors savings are secure. Brilliant and constructive question eh ?  and a fantastic idea to press the nuclear option and seek an election before the budget. What are they hoping to achieve ? they wont be able to avoid the hard task of implementing the measures in the budget so best they get on with it , the numbers are stark and unavoidable.

 

Spain had a bond auction today which was poorly covered and less than the maximum which the Spanish government had hoped to sell as  the crisis rumbles along towards spain but and the bond markets are reacting with Spreads vs Germany reaching 233 bp , an all time high.

 

Its not about stocks this week , its about the future of the Euro and Ireland is front and centre with Portugal and Spain now feeling the heat. This afternoon  the IMF's Director Lipsky said that the fund has been in contact with Portugal. This itself will exacerbate the nerves tomorrow.

 

And of course to keep things on the boil there is a huge insider trading scandal breaking on wall street and of course the North Koreans have decided to start shooting at South Korea.

 

All good fun…

 

Have a good evening.

 

Am sure that the comedy show will continue on all the current affairs programmes this evening.   As for me , I  am going to the gym…

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

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