The New Big Short – against the euro, that suggests France is riskier than Panama
My view: watch the CDS market very carefully. And also keep an eye on the battle of wills between US hedge funds and EU politicos
Faisal Islam
Faisal Islam has left Channel 4 News. This is an archive of his blogs.
-
-
The Riots – Joe Stiglitz makes the Cuts connection as austerity stalks America
Faisal meets Joseph Stiglitz who predicts dark times for much of the Western world and CNBC’s Jim Cramer, who, conversely, envisages light at the end of the tunnel.
-
North Atlantic debt crisis ‘giant game of Jenga’
Faisal Islam in New York on the fears for the markets after US loses its AAA credit rating and eurozone debt worries continue.
-
Rogers, Rickards and King on the market turmoil
The post dollar world, the Gold Standard, the “largest debtors in the history world”: Jim Rogers, Jim Rickards and HSBC’s Stephen King give Faisal Islam their thoughts on the downgrade.
-
Markets braced for global turmoil
All eyes turn to the opening bell of the stock markets, due just hours after leaders from the world’s major powers stage emergency meetings, Economics Editor Faisal Islam reports.
-
What to watch as America awakes to financial vulnerability
Channel 4 News’ economics editor Faisal Islam explains what it means to the US and to the world, for America to have its credit status downgraded to AA+.
-
The Berlusconi Bounce. Bunganomics to the rescue
So it has come to this. America’s trading reassured by a few tens of thousands of payrolls and the presence of Super-Silvio at an urgently convened press conference in Rome.
-
Buckle up, euro zone discord could take us back to 2008
It feels like August 2008 all over again. Thin markets, sharp movements in stock prices and credit markets. Europe’s leading bank shares slumping by up to 10 per cent. The world’s financial leaders on holiday.
-
Is Berlusconi right? Hedge funds and Two Italian Jobs
The bigger picture here: that the speculators piling in against Italy do not believe that Germany will want or can afford to write a cheque for an economy as big as Italy. It is a test of wills. The end game could well require that the eurozone bailout facility be extended to a trillion or two euros.
-
Britain the low interest ‘safe haven’, or growth laggard?
George Osborne’s new communications mantra is that Britain is a “safe haven in a storm”, that Britain is “stable”. To my occasionally cynical mind this seems to be a tacit admission that the Treasury recognises it has little to boast about so far as regards the economic numbers. The best that can be hoped for is stability. Stability is better than chaos. And if stability means austerity and that means low growth, than for the moment, so be it.
-
Using ‘hiphopnomics’ to explain the economic crisis
The financial crises in the US and the eurozone have inspired a spate of YouTube videos which use hip hop to express sophisticated economic concepts.
-
The Hitman and his high-speed train
Extraordinary debate between pro-and anti-HS2 campaigners. I wasn’t aware that Pete Waterman (producer of Kylie Minogue’s seminal pop hit “The Locomotion”) was quite so passionate about trains and high speed rail. The Stop HS2 campaigner Joe Rukin seemed to give as good as he got.
-
Osborne “absolutely not for turning”
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is “absolutely not for turning”. He did actually say the words to me, fully conscious of their historical resonance.
-
This isn’t sluggish growth, it’s no growth
So the economy hasn’t really grown since the end of September. Forget the snow, forget Wills and Kate, park the tsunami. The underlying picture is not of sluggish growth. It’s no growth.
-
George Osborne ‘not for turning’ on deficit reduction
As figures show the UK economy grew by just 0.2 per cent last quarter, George Osborne tells Channel 4 News’ Economics Editor Faisal Islam he is “not for turning” on plans to reduce the UK’s deficit.
