The Eurozone faces a source of instability that originates not within finance ministries, but in international financial markets. Hedge funds are steadily expanding their presence in Europe’s sovereign bond market—a market valued at approximately $13 trillion—thereby gaining increasing influence over the transactions that determine yields and, consequently, the borrowing costs for governments. Hedge funds now …
Tag: hedge funds
If banks have difficulty replacing expiring SRTs, then this systemic bomb will blow markets into the air
SRTs (Significant Risk Transfer), the new, rapidly growing “fashion” of European banking giants, are coming under the microscope of international regulators and central banks. This is an extremely complex financial tool through which credit institutions transfer the default risk of their loan portfolios to hedge funds and private equity funds. While the strategy is a …
The turmoil in private credit markets is reminiscent of the 2007-2008 subprime mortgage crisis
The cracks in this dark corner of the $1.8 trillion financial markets have clear similarities to the subprime crisis. Liquidity is scarce or even disappearing. The lack of transparency around how assets are valued seems to be fueling investor concerns and leading to funds failing to return capital to investors. This in turn has raised …
Bets against the euro-dollar parity are increasing dangerously
Anticipation of the risk of the euro slipping against the dollar is rising in financial markets after last week’s rate cut and the scenario that a Donald Trump presidency could spark a global trade war. Days after Trump suggested that US tariffs could target Europe as well as China and other countries, European Central Bank …
Currency War: Why It’s Not Time to Short the Yuan?
As the “Trump trade” returns – again – fueling concerns of new geopolitical turmoil, hedge funds worldwide are scrambling to short the Chinese yuan. They are betting that Trump’s tax and trade policies, if elected, will strengthen the dollar, with China seeking a more competitive exchange rate as domestic growth slows. But if the last …
Global markets: After the plunge – The role of the carry trade, shorts and the hit to hedge funds
The numbers flashing on the stock screens on Monday were shocking. Whether Monday’s wild swings mark the final blowout of a global sell-off that began to develop last week or mark the beginning of a protracted downturn is impossible to know. Trust Economics is predicting a major crash next fall. The Nikkei on Monday posted …
US Treasuries are the new hot trend for the investments of the Hedge funds
For much of the past two decades, most of the U.S. government debt was stashed away in the vaults of the Federal Reserve, foreign central banks, and private banks that used it as a kind of cash reserve. At the height of the era of low cost money, the Fed was hoarding $100 billion a …