Spanish Daily El Pais Compares Angela Merkel To Hitler, Apologizes - All News Is Global | -
MADRID - After publishing a column comparing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler, Spanish daily El Pais has now retracted the piece and apologized following an outcry from Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
Markets tumble on fear Cyprus deal is new template - MarketWatch -
Confidence is fickle and continued pessimism risks precipitating bank runs in Spain and Greece.
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Cyprus, lenders agree bailout deal: reports - MarketWatch -
Markets are higher. Thus far it seems a landmine has been avoided. However, the longer-term trend of the ability of the Eurozone to stay intact continues to worsen. Political risk has only increased over the past 4 years without any long lasting solution to the problem of structurally different economies operating under the same monetary system.
South Korea Escalates Concern With Japan Policies as Yen Slides - Bloomberg -
South Korea’s newly-appointed finance minister, Hyun Oh Seok, revived his nation’s concerns over weakness in the yen and said that the Group of 20 nations should revisit the issue.
“Japan’s expansionary policies are having various ripple effects on many countries,” Hyun, 62, told reporters on March 23 in Bundang, on his second day as finance chief. “The yen is depreciating while the won is gaining and this is flashing a red light for Korea’s exports.” — Bloomberg
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Currency Wars continue. Beggar thy neighbor policies are risking larger-scale tensions throughout the global economy.
Chemical Weapons Probably Used in Syria, Rogers Says - Bloomberg -
U.S. Representative Mike Rogers said it is “probable” that the regime of Syria’s Bashar al- Assad has used chemical weapons in that country’s civil war.
“When you look at the whole body of information” that “over the last two years there is mounting evidence that it is probable that the Assad regime has used at least a small quantity of chemical weapons,” Rogers, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said today on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. — Bloomberg
European Leaders in Lapland Signal Confidence in Cyprus Talks - Bloomberg
(via Cyprus crisis will soon blow over - Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch)
Europe Braces for Fresh Turmoil With Cyprus Deposit Levy - Bloomberg -
While Cyprus accounts for less than half a percent of the 17-nation euro economy, the raid on bank accounts risks triggering new convulsions in the financial crisis that began in 2009 in Greece. The tax is “a worrying precedent with potentially systemic consequences if depositors in other periphery countries fear a similar treatment in the future,” Joachim Fels, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in London, wrote in a client note. — Bloomberg.
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Beware of bank runs in Spain and Greece. Axing the savings or everyday citizens to save losses for investors is an outrage.
U.S. Retail Sales Up Solid 1.1% in February | TIME.com
A Conservative with a Common Touch — NYT
EU Summit Set to Loosen Deficit Shackles - Bloomberg -
Good news. Lord knows the periphery needs it.
(via Italy’s Grillo says Country “de Facto out of the Euro” | Economy & Trade | Business | Epoch Times)
Asian Stocks Reverse Gains as Chinese Shares Extend Drop - Bloomberg
Falklands Vote Overwhelmingly to Retain British Territory Status - Bloomberg