Insights

European Central Bank (ECB) leader Mario Draghi blew his credibility up in dramatic style over the last couple of weeks by first saying he would forcefully do whatever it takes to preserve the euro on July 26 at the London Global Investment Conference.....

Europe is complex because it is comprised of 17 different countries. This might seem obvious, though begs the question why the European Union expects the rest of the world to view it as anything other than 17 different countries even if they do share one currency.

After weeks of negotiations it looks as if some temporary resolution to the Greek debt was found and the rating agencies seem to be onboard. The restructuring and rolling out of the debt will not be defined as a default, providing Greece access to another EUR 70 billion which should enable debt payments to be made.

In our daily updates we often talk of the markets switching in a very polarized fashion from risk on (having more risk appetite) to risk off (suffering from risk aversion).

The foreign exchange markets can be very unpredictable at times, especially when conflicting news from different areas happen on the same day as on Monday, April 18.

The question for most people is why the dollar is not strengthening with the upheaval in Egypt, Libya and the Middle East situation. In the risk on/risk off world we have become used to, surely there should have been a flight to quality (U.S. bonds) and consequently the US$, which should have strengthened.

The market is getting ready to take on the European system and challenge the euro. The reason I've chosen that wording is because this could be a situation much like when a central bank intervenes to either protect its own currency or even stop its currency from strengthening too much.

The interesting financial news this week besides Irish debt was the market and economists' outspoken criticism of the Fed's quantitative easing — the Fed's tactic to liven up the U.S. economy.