They may have lost their (Elgin) marbles, but Greece is clearly doing something right: with their economy due to grow by 2.8% next year, they have joined the elite group of countries that are able to issue government debt at negative interest rates. Yes! Greece is able to charge storage for investor money! EUR 487.5M for 13 weeks at minus 0.02%! This follows them borrowing EUR 1.5 billion for 10 years at just 1.5%. This is remarkable for any southern European country, but especially so in the case of Greece which received multiple bailouts following the financial crisis of 11 years ago. What the market is saying about the European Central Bank’s actions and the knock on effects for the individual European countries such as Greece, is that interest rates are going to remain low or very low for many years.
Ireland: It’s the way you tell ‘em
Investor appetite for “green” instruments no doubt further fueled by the Climate Extinction protesters, meant that Ireland which issued EUR 3 Billion 12 year bonds a year ago at a yield of 1.4%, were yesterday able to issue a further tranche of EUR 2 Billion in the same maturity at just 0.229%. Sustainable water and waste management, clean transportation, renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change projects all qualify as being green. Frequent visitors to the Emerald Isle will be in no doubt that there is plenty of water falling out of the sky and will struggle to see any perceptible change to the Irish climate other than the recent expenditure of plenty of hot air between Dublin and London!
The Holiday Destination Game: 2020
This is a popular family favourite for those darker winter evenings : where to book the best value holidays for the following summer? Once those Thomas Cook refunds are received from ATOL, the chances are that many families as well as singles will be eying up Turkey. 10 years ago USD1 bought just 1.48 Turkish Lira; following the sharp drop in the TL in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria on Wednesday, that has risen to TL 5.90.
Club 18-30 fan, SGM-FX’s Richard is mourning on this, the first anniversary of the closure of this iconic(sic) brand by owner Thomas Cook (R.I.P.): “It’s so unfair”, he wails, “ another year and Club 18-30 might have survived.” Someone tell him: it’s all vegan nights, selfies, mindfulness, whale music and smoothies these days, so he needs to take his penchant for unlimited beer and topless beach games elsewhere!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
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