Markets always send the signal of risk or euphoria first, either by launching or shrinking bond spreads respectively and long before rating agencies start one by one and slowly downgrade the credit rating of the country which is under consideration. It is common for Big-Four Rating Companies – Fitch Ratings, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, DBRS
It is the Social Security Funds that pay the pensions and pay the health benefits offered by third parties to their insured persons. This is achieved because of the social security contributions paid by insured persons, employers and in some cases by the State respectively throughout the working life of insured persons. Social Security Contributions
Earlier this week the revelations of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and in collaboration with Buzzfeed on the content of Fin Cen files and always on the laundering of astronomical amounts for more than twenty years by the largest banks in the world gave the “charismatic shot” to stock market indices that over the
The fact that the Chinese economy came out very quickly from the spread of the pandemic and in particular in the first three months of 2020, managing to revoke all the imposed measures of lockdown and social isolation, justifies as a point the ever-increasing expectations of investors to invest in China, despite the well-known pathologies
American President Donald Trump last week ratified two bills approved by Congress and concerned the defence of the protection of the Hong-Kong demonstrators. These bills, among others, stipulate sanctions against Chinese officials who are involved or will be involved in human rights violations. In addition, reference is made to the imposition of restrictions on the
In the effort of the EU-Commission to improve the performance and gradation of the Greek economy by creating a “safety” net that will allow the Greek banking system to surpass the reef of the stress tests of the ECB, has instructed the Greek government to apply an Asset Protection Scheme to the balance sheets of
In EU member countries (e.g. Denmark, Germany) commercial banks are proceeding to mortgage loans with a negative lending rate. In other words, these banks grant discounted housing loans to borrowers and since the repayment of the mortgage loan not only will not be paid interest, but the borrower will repay capital in total less than
The colossal-scale quantitative easing program-colossal sized purchases of government bonds of Eurozone member countries by the ECB-implemented by the ECB during the mid-2010 have resulted in today’s government bonds of most Euro-area member countries and not only to turn to negative yields. But the most worrying fact is that these negative yields on the Eurozone
