Quote:
‘People are addicted to bull***t. Reality is such a bummer for a lot of people but for me reality is a fantastic thing.’ Roseanne Barr (1952-)
The News:
Bank of England’s King says UK probably entering recession and ‘not since the beginning of the First World War has our banking system been so close to collapse. We are far from the end of the road back to stability’.
The Numbers:
British Summer Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
00:50 JP August All Industry Activity Index –1.8% M/M versus +0.8% July.
06:00 JP September Supermarket Sales –2.2% Y/Y versus –1.0% August.
08:00 SE Swedish Riksbank starts a two-day interest rate setting meeting (many expect –25 bp to 4.00% from 4.75% in September) as it provides another USD 10B loan to January 16th to ease strains in credit market.
09:30 GB Bank of England Minutes of October 8th MPC meeting.
10:00 EZ15 December 31st Debt:GDP ratio (-0.6% versus –0.6%).
13:30 CA September Leading Indicators (-0.1% to +0.2% versus +0.2% August).
13:30 CA August Retail Sales (-0.9% to +0.3% M/M, Less-Autos –0.8% to +0.6%, versus +0.1% and +0.4% July).
The Psychology:
Panic starts swirling again.
The Risk:
Sharp and/or extreme moves in many instruments with the authorities powerless to stem the tide.
Today’s most interesting chart: Argentina’s Merval Index
Lost 10% yesterday, halved since May, as President Christina plans to nationalise $30B of private pensions to ‘protect’ stakeholders.
