The EU’s down and out countries

Aren’t you all happy in the EU that all these countries on the left of the graph belong to the EU. It makes for such economic strength.

(H/T Zero Hedge)

Good advice from one of Europe’s greatest bores Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup, said on Thursday 10th December that „the budget situation in Greece is tense but the country should avoid bankruptcy“.

And Citibank has this to say

Amongst global emerging markets, emerging Europe is definitely a laggard. In 2009, based on IMF estimates, emerging Europe GDP (CEE + Turkey) is expected to decline c5%, twice as large as the Latin American contraction. In 2010, emerging Europe is expected to grow c2%, but lagging Latin America (c3%). Emerging Asia remains in a different league altogether: +5% for 2009E, +7% for 2010E.

Within emerging Europe, all the major countries are expected to register negative GDP growth in 2009, Poland aside. Romania is the worst (-8% yoy), followed closely by Hungary and Bulgaria. Emerging European growth should be anemic in 2010, with most of CEE/SEE growing at between -1% and +1%, with 2-3% economic growth expected in 2011. Only Turkey is expected to register a respectable growth rate (+4%, 2010E. +5%, 2011E).

Probably the most concerning trend is the ever increasing use by Greek banks of the European Central Bank Repo Facility. As long as this is a key short-term funding vehicle, the financial system will certainly be strained.

full ZH post here

How news can gain from collaboration with Google

Take Zero Hedge for example and how Google manages to distill highbrow money speak into easily understandable street speak.

more here

No wonder newspapers die

This is what financial reporting in Germany has degenerated into: weakly, no, weekly articles about, eh, porn, no, BJs, no, blondes blowing their inherited billions, no, whiteboard markers in asses of traders, no. It is about, pssst

UNCLAIMED LUGGAGE

The demented version of the FT, Schörmany’s FTD.

Is Dubai completely broke?

Readings: Firecracker Report

and as predicted Abu D. will cherry pick as Reuters reports.

Monday should show some nice action on the bourses. A little down the road the question is, is Greece the Dumb Bai of Europe?

Dubai und deutsche Banken

Endlich gibt es ein paar Details, welche deutsche Banken und zu wieviel im Dubai-SankastenPonzi investiert sind. Soviel vorab, keine Überraschungen, DB, KFW, West LB:

(HT Zero Hedge)

Die nächste Frage ist, ist Griechenland das Dubai Europas? In Abu Dhabi leckt man sich jetzt schon die Finger, denn Dubai class assets sind für einen Appel und Ei zu bekommen. Die Daumenschrauben sind schon bereitgelegt.

DPA macht Schülern ein Angebot, das man ausschlagen sollte

Es ist vertrackt mit diesem öffentlichen Internet. Es verhagelt einem, wenn man ein alter kastenbewusster Pressefutzi ist, plötzlich die Einnahmen. Die DPA macht nun ein Angebot, das heuchelnd daher kommt:

Die Nachrichtenagentur steigt in den Bildungsmarkt ein: Gemeinsam mit einem Dienstleister bietet die Deutsche Presse-Agentur künftig Nachrichten, Fotos und Grafiken für Lehrer und Schüler an – die sollen sich damit künftig Recherche im Internet sparen.

Oh lala, das ist aber nobel. Aber warum sollen Schüler nicht im Internet herumsuchen, dabei Fehler machend auf so manch interessante Sache stossend, Dinge lernen? Eine Presseagentur möchte Lehrinhalte bestimmen. Das hatte Dland aber schon vor etlichen Jahrzehnten … Und die DPA zusammen mit einem angeblichen Marktführer in Sachen Online-Lernportalen in Deutschland, Conciety, deren ernüchternde Website hier ist, machen ein absolut charakterloses Abzockerangebot:

Das Angebot, das eine Schule bis zu 2000 Euro jährlich kostet, sollen Lehrer für die Unterrichtsvorbereitung nutzen.

Natürlich wäre das im Sinne der Leeerer, von denen gut ein Drittel Vollidioten sind.

Es ist so offensichtlich, dass hier jemand ohne jegliche Ideen sich aus Steuergeldern Einkünfte verschaffen will, die er im freien Markt nicht zu beschaffen vermag. Dabei hat man sich natürlich auch überhaupt nicht umgeschaut, denn wieso sollte man auch als eine abgetakelte Journalistenfirma so etwas lesen?? Search Engines are teachers

The researchers sought to discover the cognitive processes underlying searching. They examined the search habits of 72 participants while conducting a total of 426 searching tasks. They found that search engines are primarily used for fact checking users’ own internal knowledge, meaning that they are part of the learning process rather than simply a source for information. They also found that people’s learning styles can affect how they use search engines.

Leise rieselt der Sand in Dubai

Dubai Investoren, gewöhnlich bekannt unter dem Rubriknamen ‘Vollidioten’ oder auch Sandkastenintellektuelle,  lesen dieses bitte NICHT. Eh, Vollidioten, ich sagte NICHT! Und Deutsche, die in Dummbai investieren, können mit so etwas ohnehin nichts anfangen. Sie wurden auch nicht hellhörig als Sheik Maktoum vor gut 2 Wochen bei einer Rede im gewohnten Arabisch plötzlich ins Englische schwenkte, um wissen zu lassen, man solle nun endlich die Schnauze halten über Dubais prekäre Lage.

Cheap houses getting cheaper and the IMF as neighbor

The economic power house of the EU, Latvia, saw its house prices decline in Q3 year over year to the tune of 59.7% (yes fiftynine point …percent). What a steal houses are right now and with some of the best neighbors you could ask for: the IMF. Oh, Europe …

And for those eager to put their hard earned cash into the sand: UAE (-48.1%). Cheers with a Wtches’ Tit.

more lugubrious numbers here

The shipping blues

The NYT suggests in an article that Europe’s toothless recovery is perhaps in for some nasty surprises. True, they never dabbled big in sub-prime mortgages but big, very big, in funding the building of ships.

When Eastwind Maritime, a medium-size carrier company, went bankrupt this summer, few banks in the United States took notice.

But in Europe, where banks hold over $350 billion of increasingly dubious shipping industry loans, the inability of Eastwind, which is based in New York,to handle its debt of more than $300 million set off an anxiety attack on lending desks across the Continent.

Banks with large shipping industry portfolios — among them Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, and HSH Nordbank and Commerzbank in Germany — could face meaningful write-downs as ship owners confront plummeting charter rates from a 25 percent drop in global trade.

“Peak of defaults is generally one year after the trough of the economy,” said Scott Bugie, a European bank analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “In the U.S., the debt workouts have been faster and the economy also bottomed out before Europe.”

HSH Nordbank, a leading lender to the shipping industry, set aside close to $800 million in provisions for its shipping-related loans this spring, and it has already received 13 billion euros ($19.4 billion) in support from its owners, the regional German states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

Have banks adjusted their books or even made provisions? No.

Banks in Europe have stubbornly resisted taking write-downs for their shipping industry debts. They concede that the global cargo sector is troubled, but as long as companies continue to pay interest on their loans — which most are still doing — the banks contend that there is no need to write them off.

and does the future look good. Hell, no.

“We estimate that there will be a 50 percent oversupply in container ships,” Mr. Brahde said.

Most vulnerable is HSH Nordbank, which is exposed to the industry’s weakest segment, container ships. It has $50 billion in shipping loans, or about seven times its equity.

The exposures of other major ship lenders include Commerzbank, with $37 billion; R.B.S. with $25 billion; and Lloyds TSB with $23.9 billion, according to estimates made by ING Bank.

The fucktards of Bild.de block iPhone access

Ha ha, what an intellectual loss. Just one question assholes at Bild: who wants to read your fecal output?? And pay for your crap…?