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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #30 on: April 30, 2012, 11:04:20 pm »

Egan Jones Cuts Spain For Second Time In Two Weeks, From BBB- To BB+
30 April 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/egan-jones-cuts-spain-second-time-two-weeks-bbb-bb

TEXT-S&P takes negative rating actions on 16 Spanish banks
30 April 2012, (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/markets-ratings-spanish-banks-idUSWNA612620120430
« Last Edit: April 30, 2012, 11:06:56 pm by BornAgain2 » Report Spam   Logged
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« Reply #31 on: May 01, 2012, 11:56:37 am »

http://business.time.com/2012/05/01/why-we-should-worry-about-spains-economic-pain/

Why We Should Worry about Spain’s Economic Pain

5/1/12

Two years ago this month I was in Madrid reporting a story on the troubles of the Spanish economy and what they meant for Europe and its debt crisis. And here I am today writing about the troubles of the Spanish economy and what they mean for Europe and its debt crisis. I usually don’t like to repeat myself, but the fact that I am anyway shows just how badly Europe’s strategy for resolving its debt crisis is failing.

In fact, Spain’s predicament has actually worsened in the past two years. The national statistics bureau revealed on Monday that GDP contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter from the previous one – placing Spain officially back in recession. Unemployment has continued to rise: Now, a staggering one in four people are out of work. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the government’s credit rating last week, and followed that up on Monday by doing the same to 11 Spanish banks. Meanwhile, Spain’s borrowing costs remain elevated. The yield on 10-year government bonds is back near 6%.

We should all be very worried about what’s going on in Spain. Because Spain isn’t Greece. The Greek crisis was most likely not a direct threat to the survival of the monetary union. Its economy was simply too small. The danger was in the possible contagion effect Greece might present if it outright defaulted or bolted from the union. Spain, the zone’s fourth-largest economy (after Germany, France and Italy) can do a lot of damage all by itself. If Spain ultimately requires a bailout, it would strain the resources available in the zone’s rescue fund (the European portion of which was recently boosted to a total of $925 billion) and put pressure on the zone to fatten up the fund even more, which Germany and others have been reluctant to do. Such an event would also be the biggest blow to the future of the euro yet, likely reigniting the crisis in Italy and making other bailouts more likely (especially for Portugal). With emerging markets slowing down, Europe in the toilet, the U.S. recovery uncertain, and energy prices high, a Spanish meltdown is exactly what the global economy doesn’t need right now.



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« Reply #32 on: May 09, 2012, 12:47:52 am »

Bankia shares drop as Spain readies bailout
8 May 2012, (AFP)
http://www.france24.com/en/20120508-bankia-shares-drop-further-spain-readies-bailout

Excerpt:

Shares in Spain's fourth-biggest listed bank, Bankia, fell sharply Tuesday after the government said it would inject public money in the lender this week to clean up huge bad loans.

On Monday shares in Bankia, which has the industry's largest exposure to the property market at €37.5 billion ($49 billion), had lost 3.26%.

An economy ministry official told AFP Monday that the government was "finalising a plan to clean up the bank", adding that the scheme would use public money and was likely to be announced by Friday.

----

The leading daily El Pais estimated Bankia would need €5-€10 billion ($6.5-$13 billion) to repair its balance sheet.

Business daily Expansion put the figure at €5-€7 billion.
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« Reply #33 on: May 10, 2012, 10:34:19 pm »

Spain Underplaying Bank Losses Faces Ireland Fate
10 May 2012, by Yalman Onaran (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-09/spain-underplaying-bank-losses-faces-ireland-fate.html

Excerpt:

Spain is underestimating potential losses by its banks, ignoring the cost of souring residential mortgages, as it seeks to avoid an international rescue like the one Ireland needed to shore up its financial system.

The government has asked lenders to increase provisions for bad debt by €54 billion ($70 billion) to €166 billion.

That’s enough to cover losses of about 50% on loans to property developers and construction firms, according to the Bank of Spain.

There wouldn’t be anything left for defaults on more than €1.4 trillion of home loans and corporate debt
.

Taking those into account, banks would need to increase provisions by as much as five times what the government says, or €270 billion, according to estimates by the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based research group.

Plugging that hole would increase Spain’s public debt by almost 50% or force it to seek a bailout, following in the footsteps of Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

“How can you only talk about one type of real estate lending when more and more loans are going bad everywhere in the economy?” said Patrick Lee, a London-based analyst covering Spanish banks for Royal Bank of Canada.

“Ireland managed to turn its situation around after recognizing losses much more aggressively and thus needed a bailout.

I don’t see how Spain can do it without outside support.”
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« Reply #34 on: May 12, 2012, 05:01:35 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/spains-indignants-over-streets-042623383.html

One year on, Spain's 'indignants' take to streets
By Daniel Silva | AFP – 1 hr 5 mins ago


Masses of chanting "indignant" activists poured into the streets across Spain on Saturday in a vast show of strength one year on from igniting a global protest against economic injustice.
 
Thousands packed Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square, the emblematic birthplace of their popular movement against inequality, sky-high unemployment and spending cuts that shook the political establishment.
 
Many had marched to the square for hours in separate columns of protesters from all directions.
 
Police gave no estimate for the turnout in Madrid but the authorities in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, said around 45,000 jammed the Plaza de Catalunya square.
 
The marches, held in 80 cities and towns across Spain, launch a four-day protest that will end on May 15, the anniversary of the movement's birth -- a date that led them to being dubbed 15-M.
 
The movement, which relies heavily on online social networks to campaign and organise, has inspired similar protests from Britain to the United States' Occupy Wall Street.
 
"We never ceased to exist. It is not that we have returned, we never left," said a 25-year-old nursing intern in Barcelona, adding she planned to camp overnight in the square.
 
While Barcelona city hall seems prepared to tolerate a camp for a limited period, the authorities in Madrid insist they will not allow a repeat of last year's month-long sprawling encampment in Puerta del Sol that included everything from a canteen to a kindergarten and a library.
 
Spain's conservative government, in power since December, has issued a permit for the "indignants" to use Puerta del Sol for a five-hour assembly Saturday and for 10 hours on each of the following three days.
 
But the activists' plans published online call for a minute of silence at midnight and for a "permanent assembly" to be held in Puerta del Sol during the four-day protest.
 
Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the government would ensure that the hours are respected.
 
"To stay in the square beyond those hours would be a violation of the law and of the rights of other citizens, and this government will ensure the law is respected," she told reporters Friday after a weekly cabinet meeting.
 
A year after the movement's birth, Spaniards have even more to protest: a recession, unemployment at 24.4 percent and 52 percent for the young, and more than 30 billion euros ($39 billion) worth of austerity cuts so far this year.
 
"We are here because we continue to be angry over the austerity policies which an economic elite is imposing on us," said 21-year-old philosophy student Victor Valdes at the Madrid rally.
 
Another protester, 23-year-old office worker Marina Santos said: "It is important to show that we are still here, that there are thousands of people that want a change and are willing to work for it."
 
She carried a handmade sign that read: "Another World is Possible" as she marched to Puerta del Sol to the beat of drums.
 
The "indignants" have staged overwhelmingly peaceful protests and neighbourhood assemblies since their camp at Puerta del Sol was dismantled on June 12 last year, but interest has tapered off.
 
"The movement has mutated, it is still there. What has happened is that it is not on the streets, it is online and in social networks," said Noelia Moreno, a former spokeswoman for the movement in Madrid.
 
"This is a long-distance race, no one can change an entire political system in one day or one year, it takes time," the 30-year-old unemployed video producer added.
 
Critics charge that beyond staging rallies, the movement has had little impact.
 
Antonio Alaminos, sociology professor at Alicante University, said the "indignants" had failed to organise and were left expressing a discontent born from social and economic malaise without a concrete ideology.
 
"The result: lots of small relatively disconnected groups that no longer form a social movement," he said.
 
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« Reply #35 on: May 17, 2012, 12:39:56 pm »

Euro crisis: Run on nationalised Spanish bank sees customers withdraw €1BILLION... as French government slashes its own pay by 30%
Shares in Bankia, Spain's fourth largest bank, fall 27% after media reports
Greece forms government, but will dissolve it tomorrow for new election
Francois Hollande slashes pay to 'highlight difference' with Sarkozy
Greeks also 'running the banks' by withdrawing £650million per day
Rumours Greek cashpoints could limit how much money they give out
Moody's reviewing credit rating of 114 European institutions



A €1billion run on a recently nationalised Spanish bank has sparked further fears that the 17-nation eurozone is about to implode.

European markets fell as fears of a continent-wide contagion from goverment-less Greece's economic crisis also spread.

Shares in Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank formed in 2010 through a merger of seven struggling regional savings institutions, today plummeted by 27 per cent.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145764/Run-nationalised-Spanish-bank-sees-customers-withdraw-1BILLION--French-government-slashes-pay-30.html#ixzz1v9KzTFDE

No deposit flight at Bankia - Spain govt official

MADRID | Thu May 17, 2012 7:51am EDT

MADRID May 17 (Reuters) - Spain's Economy Secretary said on Thursday there had not been an exit of deposit funds from troubled bank Bankia.

"It's not true that there is an exit of deposits at this moment from Bankia," said Economy Secretary Fernando Jimenez Latorre.

El Mundo newspaper earlier reported that Bankia had lost over 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion) in deposits, around 1 percent of retail and corporate accounts, over the past week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/spain-banks-idUSE8E7MM02K20120517

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« Reply #36 on: May 17, 2012, 02:29:39 pm »

Bank Runs spread to Spain


The problem with bank runs is that once they start, they don't stop. And while the world was conveniently distracted by events in Greece, debating whether or not people were withdrawing money in droves (they were), the real bank run happened elsewhere, namely in Spain, where just nationalized bank Bankia moments ago plunged 30% and was halted following an El Mundo report that "customers had withdrawn €1 billion over the past week." In other words -  a bank run (but whatever you do, don't call it that - it's not the politically correct and accepted nomenclature) which has sent shockwaves through Europe, pushed the EURUSD under 1.27, and bond yields in their traditional "Europe is open" direction - wider.

From FT:

    Shares in Bankia, the Spanish bank which was part-nationalised last week, plunged by over a quarter on Thursday morning, after a report that customers had withdrawn €1bn from the bank over the past week.

     

    Shares fell 27 per cent to €1.21 after El Mundo, a national Spanish newspaper, reported customers had withdrawn €1bn from the bank over the past week, citing information from a recent board meeting.

     

    The self-styled “the leader of the new banks” was formed from seven cajas last year and has now shed nearly 70 per cent of its market capitalisation since its shares were listed in July of last year.

     

    The fall helped to drive the broader IBEX 35 index down 2 per cent to 6,480.7.

The news has started to spill over to other PIIGS banks, and very soon all Italian banks will resume being suspended limit down on fear that the bank run contagion, pardon, the withdrawal meme (h/t William Banzai), because in this fake, artificially supported world, one is never allowed to call a spade a spade, has commenced.

In th meantime don't panic: after all, just recall the Bank of Spain statement which promised that despite the Bankia nationalization, that "BFA-Bankia is a solvent entity that continues to function quite normally and customers and depositors should have no concern."

Turns out depositors had a few concerns...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nationalized-spanish-bank-plummets-news-bank-run
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« Reply #37 on: May 17, 2012, 02:49:25 pm »

It's only a matter of time before they start in North America.
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« Reply #38 on: May 17, 2012, 05:51:10 pm »

Moody's cuts ratings of 16 Spanish banks
17 May 2012, by Sue Chang - San Francisco (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/moodys-cuts-ratings-of-16-spanish-banks-2012-05-17-1647570

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday lowered ratings of 16 Spanish banks and Banco Santander's U.K.-based subsidiary by one to three notches.

Moody's cited unfavorable operating conditions on renewed recession, reduced creditworthiness of the Spanish sovereign, and rapid deterioration in asset quality for the downgrades.

The outlooks on ten of the banks are negative while ratings of seven other banks remain on review for further downgrade.

Some of the affected banks include Banco Santander SA, Banco Espanol de Credito, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Caixabank, and Ceca.
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« Reply #39 on: May 17, 2012, 09:34:32 pm »

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spanish-recession-bites-may-prolonged-075001126--business.html

5/17/12

Spain beset by bank crisis, downgrades, bond pressure
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday and its troubled banks suffered a double blow, with shares in part-nationalized Bankia diving and 16 lenders - including the euro zone's biggest - having their credit ratings cut.
 
Official data confirmed Spain was back in recession and a newspaper reported a big outflow of deposits from Bankia, but the government said it had taken a fundamental step to strengthen Spain's credibility by agreeing big budget cuts with the country's free-spending regions.
 
Moody's Investors Service cut the long-term debt and deposit ratings of the 16 Spanish banks, including Banco Santander, the euro zone's largest, saying the government's ability to support some banks had weakened.
 
Spain's banks, saddled with bad loans after a property boom collapsed, lie at the heart of the euro zone crisis as markets fear any major rescue would strain Madrid's already stretched finances and possibly require an international bailout.

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« Reply #40 on: May 18, 2012, 12:04:40 am »

Moody's downgrades four Spanish regions
17 May 2012, by Ben Fox (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/moodys-downgrades-four-spanish-regions-2012-05-17

Moody's Investors Service lowered its rating on four Spanish regions, citing their poor fiscal performance and the low probability that the regional governments will be able to meet this year's deficit target set by central government.

The regions of Murcia and Andalucia were cut by two notches, while Extremadura and Catalunya were cut by one, while Moody's affirmed its ratings on the regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Valencia.

Catalunya and Murcia were dropped to junk level territory, as Moody's cited the regions' poor finances last year and its expectation that they are likely to miss the 2012 deficit target.

All six regions' outlooks are negative, in line with Spain's negative outlook, but the ratings action concludes a downgrade review that Moody's initiated in February.

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« Reply #41 on: May 18, 2012, 05:25:39 pm »

Spain's GDP contracts as austerity hits spending
17 May 2012, by Christopher Bjork - Madrid (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spains-gdp-contracts-as-austerity-hits-spending-2012-05-17

--Government, households buy less goods, services

--Business investment falls most in two years

--Exports are softening


Spain's government, households and companies reined in spending in the first three months of the year, leading the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy to contract 0.3% from the fourth quarter.

Exports softened after several quarters of strong growth, reflecting the wider slowdown in Europe. Exports had been a bright spot throughout the country's drawn-out economic crisis.

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« Reply #42 on: May 19, 2012, 03:10:32 pm »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17753891

18 May 2012 Last updated at 07:50 ET Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

Spanish economy: Who is to blame for its problems?

By Laurence Knight
 
Once again, markets are becoming nervous about lending to a eurozone government. This time it's Spain's turn.

The interest rate demanded by markets from the Spanish government to lend it money for 10 years has risen well above 6% - not far short of the 7%-8% level that prompted Greece, the Irish Republic and Portugal to go cap in hand to Brussels for a bailout.

In comparison, the German government only has to pay an interest rate of 1.42% - which, by the way, is the cheapest cost of borrowing that Berlin has ever faced.

What the markets are saying is that they are afraid Spain may ultimately go the same way as Greece, and prove unable to repay its debts, so they are moving their money to the safety of German bonds.

Meanwhile, Spain's banks are also in trouble. A rumour - denied by the Spanish finance ministry - circulated on Thursday that nervous depositors had withdrawn a billion euros of cash from their accounts at Bankia, a bank that was created out of the merger-cum-rescue of seven small regional savings banks in 2010.

Fears are rife of a vicious circle. If more cash leaves the Spanish banking system, the banks may not have the money needed to keep lending to the government.

Spaniards might be all the more minded to transfer their money to the safety of a German bank account if they witness a traumatic exit of Greece from the eurozone - something likely to involve the freezing and forced conversion of ordinary Greeks' savings into severely devalued drachmas.

On the other hand, if the Spanish banks get into trouble then the government in Madrid may not have enough money to bail them all out.

Property bubble
 
But the problems faced by Spain's government and its banks are just symptoms. The real issue is the mess that is Spain's economy.

Believe it or not, before 2008 Spain's government was one of the least spendthrift in the eurozone - unlike Greece. Or Germany.

The Spanish government's debts were a mere 36% of its gross domestic product (GDP) (the output of its economy) in 2007, while the German government's were 65%.

What's more, Madrid was in the process of paying its debts off - it earned more in tax revenues than its total spending. In contrast, Berlin regularly broke the maximum annual borrowing level laid down in the Maastricht Treaty of 3% of GDP.

Evidently, this crisis has nothing to do with the recklessness of Spain's government.

Instead, it was other people in Spain who behaved recklessly.

Interest rates fell to historic lows when the euro was launched in 1999. So Spain's banks, property developers and ordinary home-buyers collectively borrowed and fuelled an enormous property bubble.

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« Reply #43 on: May 19, 2012, 09:19:53 pm »

UPDATE 2-Banks' rising bad loans add to Spanish troubles
18 May 2012, by Julien Toyer and Jesús Aguado - Madrid (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/spain-banks-idUSL5E8GI1PM20120518

* Spanish banks' bad loans rise to 8.37%, 18-year high

* Spain to name independent auditors for financial sector

* Goldman to carry out valuation of Bankia-sources

* Moody's downgrades 16 Spanish banks

* Shares rebound to trim losses in grim week

Spanish bank bad loans rose in March to their highest in 18 years, figures from the Bank of Spain showed on Friday, underscoring the problems facing the government as it attempts to clean up the sector and get its economy back on track.

The Bank of Spain said bad loans rose to 8.37% of the banks' outstanding loans, the highest since August 1994 and up from 8.3% in February, which was also revised higher.

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« Reply #44 on: May 23, 2012, 10:31:05 pm »

Spain to inject 9 bln euros into Bankia: reports
23 May 2012, by Sara Sjolin - New York (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spain-to-inject-9-bln-euros-into-bankia-reports-2012-05-23-1391513

The Spanish government will inject at least €9 billion ($11.3 billion) into Bankia SA to recapitalize the ailing bank, Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said Wednesday, according to media reports.

The government will provide funds to cover the bank's provisioning needs, as the bank otherwise is unable to comply with two banking reforms presented this year, the finance minister said.

The question was weather the capital would be injected into the public Bankia or unlisted parent company Banco Financiero y de Ahorros SA, which holds the company's most toxic real-estate assets.

The government funds will, according to a Wall Street Journal report, be provided to BFA, which means Bankia shareholders won't see their investments diluted.

Bankia is the third-largest bank in Spain by assets and controls about 10% of the country's loans and deposits.
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« Reply #45 on: May 24, 2012, 11:51:15 am »

Spain 'Discovers' €28 Billion In Debt
23 May 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/spain-discovers-28-billion-debt

Back in late March, we pointed out - much to the chagrin of the LTRO-funded Spanish-sovereign-debt-stuffing banks of the tapas-nation - that, in a similarly misleading manner to Greece's 'leverage' the debt-to-GDP data for Spain was significantly higher than official estimates.

Once sovereign guarantees, contingent liabilities and their responsibilities to the EU and the ECB were included things got a whole lot uglier.

Now, slowly but surely, as reported by Reuters this evening, some of these bilateral guarantees/loans are coming to light: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-spain-regions-idUSBRE84M1AU20120523

Instead of the expected €8 billion of 'regional refinancing' expected for 2012, it turns out there is €36 billion and as Reuters notes:

"the difference is due to bilateral loans from Spanish banks to the regions worth €28 billion that were not made public previously" adding that

"It could unnerve further investors concerned by the capacity of Spain to curb its public finances and reform its banking sector."

Critically this stunning 'discovery' should be worrisome since the plan, given the regions are virtually blocked from public market financing - due to the high cost of funds, was/is for the sovereign to guarantee (there's that word again) their issuance explicitly.

Ironically, as de Guindos and Hollande are chummy borrow-and-spendaholic growth-seekers versus Merkel's safe-and-austere determination, so now the Spanish authorities must lend exuberantly to their regions while at the same time demanding deficit targets are met (or else?) - or as one Reuters' source objects:

"You can't tell them on one side that they have to be austere and on the other side give them unlimited liquidity".

Irony indeed.
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« Reply #46 on: May 24, 2012, 10:15:56 pm »

As Bankia Bailout Costs Grow Exponentially, Is A Stealth Bank Run Taking Place... And What Happens To Ronaldo?
24 May 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bankia-bailout-costs-grow-exponentially-stealth-bank-run-taking-place-and-what-happens-ronaldo

Bankia SA will have to ask the Spanish government for more than €15 billion as part of its effort to restore its financial health, state-owned news agency EFE reported Thursday, citing financial sources, Dow Jones, May 24 http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120524-714439.html
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« Reply #47 on: May 25, 2012, 09:03:31 am »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18206977

5/25/12

Morning business round-up: Spain's Bankia shares suspended

What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:


The main event in Europe on Friday was the news that trading in shares in Spanish bank Bankia was suspended in Madrid.

It asked for them to be suspended ahead of a board meeting later on Friday to reformulate its accounts for 2011 and submit a plan to shore up its finances.

The bank is reported to be due to ask the government for a bailout of more than 15bn euros ($19bn; £12bn).

Bankia, which is Spain's fourth-largest bank, was part-nationalised two weeks ago because of its problems with bad property debt.

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« Reply #48 on: May 25, 2012, 11:07:39 pm »

Spain to bail out Bankia with 19 billion euros
25 May 2012, by Sara Sjolin and Barbara Kollmeyer - New York (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spain-to-bail-out-bankia-with-19-billion-euros-2012-05-25

Spain’s government is ready to inject €19 billion ($24 billion) into ailing lender Bankia, the bank said Friday, in what would be the largest bank bailout in the nation’s history.

The board of the troubled Spanish bank said in a statement that it was seeking government help as part of a recapitalization plan.

The €19 billion figure already has been approved by the government, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Bankia shares were suspended Friday ahead of the announcement. Shares have lost 11% this week and nearly 60% of their value for the year to date.

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« Reply #49 on: May 26, 2012, 09:14:08 am »

S&P downgrades Bankia, Banco Popular to junk
25 May 2012, by Sara Sjolin - New York (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp-downgrades-bankia-banco-popular-to-junk-2012-05-25-1491537

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Friday cut several Spanish banks to junk status, citing concerns about the country's economy and current risks in the banking sector.

Bankia SA, and Banco Popular Espanol SA were downgraded to BB+ from BBB-.

"We believe that the Spanish government would likely provide short-term support to back any potential capital shortfall at these two institutions if necessary," the ratings agency said in a statement.

S&P also cut Bankinter SA to junk status and said the outlook for Banco Santander SA and BBVA SA are negative.

The ratings actions follow a "review of the wider implications for economic and industry risks in the Spanish banking sector after our two-notch downgrade of the Kingdom of Spain on April 26," the agency said.
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« Reply #50 on: May 26, 2012, 09:17:31 am »

Spanish bond yields rise on Catalonia money woes
25 May 2012, by Barbara Kollmeyer - Madrid (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spanish-bond-yields-rise-on-catalonia-money-woes-2012-05-25

The yield on Spain's 10-year government bonds shot higher on Friday after the president of one of the country's autonomous regions reportedly said it would need help from the government to refinance debt this year.

Catalan President Artur Mas told a group of foreign reporters that Catalonia is running out of options.

"We don't care how they do it, but we need to make payments at the end of the month.

Your economy can't recover if you can't pay your bills," Mas reportedly said.

The yield on Spain's 10-year government bond jumped to 6.32%, up 14 basis points from Thursday, according to Tradeweb.

The market is also waiting on news from ailing lender Bankia SA, which is expected to announce how much money it needs for a bailout from the government after a board meeting.

The news is expected to come well after the close of European markets.
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« Reply #51 on: May 26, 2012, 07:58:17 pm »

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spain-region-greek-exit-warnings-114218247.html?l=1

Spain region, Greek exit warnings rattle euro zone

5/26/12

(Reuters) - Central banks and companies risk making a grave error if they do not brace for a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Belgium's foreign minister said on Friday, rattling markets already alarmed by Spain's deteriorating finances.

Greek elections are scheduled for June 17 and could hasten the country's departure from the currency club should a government intent on ripping up the country's bailout program result.

Contrasting findings of opinion polls on Friday showed the outcome is too tight to call.

Greece accounts for little more than 2 percent of the euro zone economy but could pose a profound contagion threat if it quit the currency area, throwing the spotlight on Portugal, Spain and even Italy.

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« Reply #52 on: May 27, 2012, 10:55:21 pm »

Local debt is the big untold story of the Euro crisis and, if that was not apparent before, it became glaringly so when Catalonia’s President this week told the world his autonomous Catalan Government would struggle to meet its bills at the end of this month.

Looked at from afar it might be difficult to interpret what this “local” problem means for Europe and those countries dependent on European consumer markets – but we’re always talking about a Euro problem when in fact it is a thousand local crises too. Put in American terms Catalonia’s problems are probably best likened to a successful area in the USA, like Austin, Texas, asking for a bailout.

The capital of Catalonia is, of course, Barcelona and Barcelona has a global reputation for excellence that stretches back to its management of the 1992 Olympic games.

A succession of charismatic mayors has turned Barcelona into a poster for regional economic success. Barcelona has done pretty much everything that the text book says a regional economy should do. It did “clusters” – it has a very strong cluster of companies in global logistics, it maintained regional manufacturing and grew a strong service infrastructure, it has a strong creative economy, the ESADE business school has a global reputation for management education, it has a very strong, competitive culture. And it has the world’s best football club, which gives the city global exposure week in, week out. Catalonia accounts for a quarter of Spain’s GDP. It is a success story.

But local indebtedness in Europe should come as no great surprise either. Germany and France bother have large local debt problems that are anything but transparent. In fact in the case of France much of the local debt was inherited from the central Government, which “delegated” the debt to localities where national funds were spent, effectively reducing the national debt headline figure. French finance Minister during this process was Christine Lagarde, now head of the IMF.

In April last year the Economist also warned of all the mini-Greeces in Germany:

    Germany’s 11,000-odd municipalities had a deficit of €7.7 billion last year, the second-highest ever…. in NRW( North Rhein Westphalia) local social spending rose by 274% between 1980 and 2006, whereas revenue went up only by 104%.

Local debt refinancing in Spain this year, though, is Euro 36 billion with Euro 13.5 billion of that falling to Catalonia. The reality is that, at this local level in Catalonia, the failure to refinance debt will lead to real wealth destruction and impair Spain’s prospects for years to come. When a success story like Catalonia hits the skids like this, you know the problem runs deep, very deep, but Catalonia also symbolizes something about Europe right now. It is not just a financial crisis but an existential one.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/05/26/why-crisis-in-spain-this-week-should-have-us-more-worried-than-greece/
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« Reply #53 on: May 28, 2012, 10:20:38 am »

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303807404577432033067170786.html

5/28/12

Spain Borrowing Costs Hit New High

MADRID—Concerns about Spain's ability to overhaul an ailing banking system while it tries to shore up its financially shaky regions and plug a gaping budget deficit sent Spanish borrowing costs to a record high Monday, prompting a new call from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for the European Union to take action to calm market turmoil.

"We need clear statements in defense of the euro and of the sustainability of euro-zone debt," Mr. Rajoy said in a news conference. Spain's 10-year government bond yield rose 0.18 percentage point to 6.47% Monday, a new 2012 high, after Spain announced a €19 billion ...
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« Reply #54 on: May 29, 2012, 07:07:41 pm »

Spain Runs Out Of Money To Feed The Zombies http://www.zerohedge.com/news/spain-runs-out-money-feed-zombies

Bankia Parent Revises 2011 “Profit” Of €41 Million to €3.3 Billion Loss http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bankia-parent-revises-2011-profit-%E2%82%AC41-million-%E2%82%AC33-billion-loss

Overnight Sentiment: Europe Is Open, Bankia Is Plunging And Spanish Bond Yields Are Soaring http://www.zerohedge.com/news/overnight-sentiment-europe-open-bankia-plunging-and-spanish-bond-yields-are-soaring

Spain-AAA Spread Just Broke 450 bps: LCH Margin Hike Alert http://www.zerohedge.com/news/spain-bund-spread-just-broke-450-bps

EUR Shorts Hit New Record http://www.zerohedge.com/news/eur-shorts-hit-new-record-0
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« Reply #55 on: May 30, 2012, 08:28:14 am »

ECB rejects Spain’s Bankia recap plan: FT
29 May 2012, by Wallace Witkowski - San Francisco (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-rejects-spains-bankia-recap-plan-ft-2012-05-29

Spain will have to come up with another plan to recapitalize Bankia SA after the European Central Bank reportedly torpedoed a proposal to use government debt.

The ECB said Spain’s plan to use €19 billion ($24 billion) in sovereign bonds to recapitalize the bank was in danger of violating a ban forbidding the central bank to finance governments, the Financial Times reported in its online edition late Tuesday, citing European officials.

Spain nationalized Bankia, its third-largest bank, in early May.

Under a proposal, Spain planned sink billions of euros in its bonds into the ailing bank with an eye to swapping them out for cash at the ECB’s three-month refinancing window.

Such a plan would have allowed the country to sidestep having to raise the money in the bond markets.

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« Reply #56 on: May 30, 2012, 09:40:00 am »

Egan Jones Cuts Spain Again: From BB- To B, Outlook Negative
29 May 2012, by Tyler Durden (Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/egan-jones-cuts-spain-again-bb-b-outlook-negative

The little rating agency (or is that former, now that it is public knowledge that Egan-Jones missed a comma in their NRSRO application?) that just refuses to go away, has done it again, and downgraded Spain from BB- to B (negative outlook of course), and on the edge of the dreaded triple hooks, mere days after it cut it from BB+ to BB-.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spain contnues to be weakened by the government deficit of 9.6% (based on the first quarter results), an estimated decline in GDP of 1.7% (per the Economy Ministry), the 24.4% unemployment,

the IIF's recent estimate of additional bank loan losses up to €260 billion, and possible depositor withdrawals.

(Over the past three fiscal years, that is from 2008 to 2010, Spain's GDP declined from €1.09 trillion to €1.07 trillion.)

Meanwhile, its debt mushroomed from €381 billion to €563 billion.

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« Reply #57 on: May 30, 2012, 10:30:58 am »

Spain rattles markets, Greeks warned of catastrophe

5/30/12

MADRID/ATHENS (Reuters) - Spain's borrowing costs lurched higher and the Madrid stock market hit a nine-year low on Wednesday as investors rattled by deepening fears about its banking system fled to the relative haven of German bonds.

Spain's banking woes - the result of a burst property bubble aggravated by recession - have combined with growing uncertainty about Greece's survival in the euro zone to reignite Europe's sovereign debt crisis, driving the euro to a two-year low of $1.2454. European shares also extended their fall after Italy paid heavily to sell bonds.

Madrid said it will probably tap credit markets to inject funds into nationalized lender Bankia, but that looks expensive with 10-year borrowing costs at 6.67 percent near their euro era peak and close to levels at which Ireland and Greece sought international bail-outs.

The Economy Ministry played down a Financial Times report that the European Central Bank had rejected an initial plan to rescue Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank, by stuffing it with government bonds that could be used as collateral to borrow from the ECB. [ID:nL5E8GU39O]

more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spain-rattles-markets-greeks-warned-100300736.html?l=1
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« Reply #58 on: May 30, 2012, 03:59:43 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/euro-falls-22-month-low-spain-downgrade-195944654--finance.html

5/29/12

Euro falls to 22-month low on Spain downgrade

NEW YORK (AP) — The euro plunged to a fresh 22-month low Tuesday after a ratings agency downgraded Spain's debt.

The euro fell to $1.2487 late Tuesday from $1.2539 late Monday. The euro fell as low as $1.246 earlier, its lowest point against the dollar since July 2010.

Egan-Jones Ratings Company downgraded Spain saying that it may have trouble paying its debt as growth slows and rising unemployment rate. Spain has a 24.4 percent jobless rate and is battling its second recession in three years.

The downgrade came after more bad news for the country. On Tuesday, Spain said that retail sales fell 9.8 percent in April from a year ago. That's more than double the 3.8 percent drop in March.

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« Reply #59 on: May 31, 2012, 03:40:21 pm »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9301270/Spain-faces-total-emergency-as-fear-grips-markets.html

Spain faces 'total emergency' as fear grips markets

Spain is facing the gravest danger since the end of the Franco dictatorship as the country is frozen out of global capital markets and slides towards an epic showdown with Europe.

5/30/12

We’re in a situation of total emergency, the worst crisis we have ever lived through” said ex-premier Felipe Gonzalez, the country’s elder statesman.
 
The warning came as the yields on Spanish 10-year bonds spiked to 6.7pc, pushing the “risk premium” over German Bunds to a post-euro high of 540 basis points. The IBEX index of stocks in Madrid fell 2.6pc, the lowest since the dotcom bust in 2003.

Chaos over the €23.5bn rescue of crippled lender Bankia has led to the abrupt resignation of central bank governor Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, who testified to the senate that he had been muzzled to avoid enflaming events as confidence in the country drains away.
 
Markets are on tenterhooks as Spanish yields test levels that forced the European Central Bank to respond last November with its €1 trillion liquidity blitz. “Nobody is short Spanish debt right now because they are expecting ECB intervention,” said Andrew Roberts, credit chief at RBS. “If it doesn’t come -- if we take out 6.8pc -- we’re going to see a hyberbolic sell-off,” he said.

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