Saturday, 1 January 2011

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has covered world politics and economics for a quarter century, based in Europe, the US, and Latin America. He joined the Telegraph in 1991, serving as Washington correspondent and later Europe correspondent in Brussels. He is now International Business Editor in London.

LATEST FROM AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD

China slows as tightening bites

Fears that Beijing's measures to choke off inflation may knock away the central prop of global recovery.

30 Dec 2010

Italy's debt costs approach red zone

Italy's borrowing costs have jumped to the highest level since the financial crisis two years ago, raising concerns that Europe's biggest debtor may slip from the eurozone's stable core.

29 Dec 2010

Record spike in EMU default risk

The cost of default insurance on eurozone bonds has surged to an all-time high on reports that Greece is preparing the way for a sovereign debt restructuring after 2013, with tacit support from the EU authorities.

24 Dec 2010

Citigroup fears wave of eurozone defaults

Willem Buiter, the Citigroup chief economist and former UK rate setter, warns of a fresh wave of bank failures and a string of sovereign defaults in Europe unless EU leaders come up with a credible response to the crisis.

22 Dec 2010

Citigroup warns of fresh wave of bank failures

Citigroup has warned of a fresh wave of bank failures and sovereign defaults in Europe unless EU leaders come up with a credible response to the crisis.

21 Dec 2010

'Untenable policies will lead to euro break-up'

Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, has called on Greece, Ireland and Portugal to step outside the eurozone temporarily and restructure their debts unless the currency bloc agrees to a radical change of course.

20 Dec 2010

Self-righteous Germany must accept a euro-debt union or leave EMU

If Germany and its hard-money allies genuinely wish to save the euro – which is open to doubt – they should stop posturing, face up to the grim imperative of a Transferunion, and desist immediately from imposing their ruinous and reactionary policies of debt deflation on southern Europe and Ireland.

19 Dec 2010

ECB doubles capital base to stem Spanish crisis

The ECB is to double its capital base to cope with 'credit risk' stemming from the eurozone debt crisis, paving the way for direct action to shore up the Spanish debt markets if necessary.

17 Dec 2010

Germany defiant as Europe suffers

Germany has refused to give any ground on Europe's rescue machinery despite the escalating political and economic crisis across much of the eurozone periphery.

16 Dec 2010

Eurozone debt crisis spreads to Belgium

Europe's debt woes have moved closer to the core of monetary union after Standard & Poor's threatened to downgrade Belgium over the failure of Flemings and Walloons to form a government.

15 Dec 2010

The eurozone is in bad need of an undertaker

The EU’s Franco-German "Directoire" and the European Central Bank have between them ruled out all plausible solutions to the eurozone’s debt crisis.

12 Dec 2010

Zimbabwe's 'Blood Diamonds' exposed by Wikileaks

Wikileak cables from the US embassy in Zimbabwe allege that President Robert Mugabe's family and the central bank governor are involved in the illegal smuggling of diamonds from the Marange fields.

10 Dec 2010

Global bond rout deepens on US fiscal worries

Agreement in Washington on a fresh fiscal package has set off dramatic rise in yields of US Treasuries and bonds across the world, threatening to short-circuit any benefits of stimulus.

08 Dec 2010

Iceland offers risky temptation for Ireland as recession ends

Iceland has finally emerged from deep recession after allowing its currency to plunge and washing its hands of private bank debt, prompting an intense the debate over whether Ireland might suffer less damage if adopted the same strategy.

08 Dec 2010

AkzoNobel strikes rich in China, led by Dulux dog

Others may gripe about barriers in China but Anglo-Dutch group AkzoNobel is minting euros supplying the greatest housing and infrastructure boom the world has ever seen.

06 Dec 2010

China's credit bubble on borrowed time as inflation bites

The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to take out protection against the risk of a sovereign default by China as one of its top trade trades for 2011. This is a new twist.

05 Dec 2010

Bernanke’s QE3 faces resistance

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, was expected to open the way for a third blast of bond purchases in a 60 Minutes interview, but any such move is likely to face resistance from Fed hawks and criticism in Congress.

05 Dec 2010

ECB bows to German veto on bond purchases

The European Central Bank has rebuffed calls for mass purchases of southern European bonds, despite growing pressure.

02 Dec 2010

EMU requires 'nuclear response'

As Europe's debt crisis spreads ever wider, the EU authorities are coming under intense pressure to move beyond piecemeal rescues and resort to radical action on a nuclear scale.

01 Dec 2010

Contagion strikes Italy as Ireland bail-out fails to calm markets

The EU-IMF rescue for Ireland has failed to restore to confidence in the eurozone debt markets, leading instead to a dramatic surge in bond yields across half the currency bloc.

29 Nov 2010

Germany faces awful choice as Spain wobbles

Desperate moments call for desperate measures. In June 1940, the British War Cabinet led by Winston Churchill offered a total national merger to a shattered France.

29 Nov 2010

EU rescue costs start to threaten Germany itself

The escalating debt crisis on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of monetary union.

26 Nov 2010

German haircut demands fuel crisis

German plans to push for bondholder haircuts in Europe as soon as next year have triggered a surge in default risk on European bank debt and set off further flight from Spanish, Portuguese and Irish bonds.

25 Nov 2010

Spain and Portugal under fire as bond spreads hit record

Borrowing costs for Portugal and Spain have surged to danger levels on fears that Europe's leaders are losing political control of the Irish crisis and have yet to agree on a coherent plan to tackle the eurozone's deeper debt woes.

23 Nov 2010

Portugal next as EMU's Máquina Infernal keeps ticking

The Portuguese seemed baffled - and pained - that investors should link their country in any way with Greece or Ireland. I am afraid they must come to terms very soon with some unpleasant facts.

22 Nov 2010