This is a big positive as European banks need to raise capital when attractive opportunities exist.  Deutsche Bank AG (DB) has tremendous earnings power but is one of the most heavily levered institutions so raising capital is the right thing to do.  Europe did the right thing with the LTRO in ensuring ample liquidity in...Read More

George Soros is an investor that I have a tough time following but that I respect a great deal due to his deep and thoughtful understanding of macroeconomics.  His notion of reflexivity and the impacts it can have on markets is fascinating yet difficult for my mind to totally grasp.  In this effort he makes...Read More

EU lawmakers seem intent on turning a recession into a depression by imposing absurdly high capital requirements which would serve to stifle lending at the worst time possible.  This is one of the most obscene over reactions that I can imagine, and it is totally impractical for banks to raise that much capital when the...Read More

It is very difficult to forecast the future outlook for oil prices.  In relation to other forms of energy such as natural gas it is obscenely expensive.  Supply isn’t really constrained even with the difficulties in demand and production has been relatively solid.  Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to develop new deepwater...Read More

This article shortly and succinctly outlines the problems that some of these European countries are having in establishing a competitive economy.  Ridiculous labor laws that stifle business are devastating particularly in such a globalized economic environment where lower labor costs can allow a competitor to “eat the lunch” of the higher cost business.  These types...Read More

At TTCM we have maintained that their are two ways to resolve the European crisis.  The first way is to abandon the Euro currency and allow struggling countries to depreciate their currencies as has been the model for a millenium, prior to the establishment of the Euro.  The second way is to adopt the same...Read More

This is very encouraging news to see Spain taking their budget cuts seriously.  While austerity isn’t going to be a magic potion to resolve the Euro’s problems, it does maintain the credibility of the efforts made in the last year for each country to get their houses in order.  The last couple of years Greece...Read More

While so much anxiety has been built up surrounding Europe, Japan’s troubles have kind of slid under the radar. There are some serious structural problems with the economy and demographics which are creating an unsustainable situation in terms of their indebtedness.  Fortunately they do have the ability to print their own currency which should help...Read More

Fortune Magazine did a great job profiling Banco Santander (STD) Chairman Emilio Botin who has built a family run Spanish regional bank into the largest European bank by market capitalization.  I really appreciate his philosophy of buying banks with an international presence during a period of turmoil, and then helping them recover through incorporating his...Read More

The following article puts some historical perspective to the current issues in Europe.  The premise is that the best way for the weaker economies such as Greece, Portugal, and Ireland to be able to recover is through deflating their own currency.  The parallel is that countries that left the gold standard after World War 1...Read More