The end is nigh
Monday, 13 October 2008 9:30am
Measures, measures and more measures. How long is a piece of string? How much more money must central banks kept throwing at banks, financial institutions and businesses to get credit flowing again?
Selective bailouts, massive rescue packages, coordinated interest rate reductions, shock interest rate cuts, nationalisations, government guarantees, direct capital injections. All these and more were tried over the past few weeks. All failed to ease the extreme pessimism that has gripped financial markets across the globe.
More measures are coming. The G7 met over the weekend and came out with five strategies to unfreeze the credit markets. These include: direct investment in banks; provide deposit insurance for investors; purchase of toxic assets; offer insurance and ensure that credit is available to mortgage holders.
A separate meeting by European leaders promised to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing and a host of other measures in order to ease credit in the European Union. The measures include temporarily guaranteeing bank lending for up to five years, and taking equity stakes in distressed banks.
There is no word as yet on the G20's weekend meeting. But whatever the outcome, pray that it succeeds.
Contagion has again become a key word. Worse, there is now a negative feedback loop, where a sell-off in America, becomes a sell-off in Asia, becomes a sell-off in Europe, becomes a sell-off in America, and so on. This has become irrational exuberance in reverse.
When this will all end, nobody knows. But end it will - and it may be getting close.
Benjamin Ong
This story was found at: http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/24231
Printed: Wednesday, 8 September 2010 7:12am