pushing stocks to new highs simply on continued hopes that something in Europe may have changed with Merkel's so-called defeat last week, even as Merkel's key CSU coalition partners voiced an open threat earlier today to no longer support Eurozone aid if there is no conditionality - supposedly Mario Monti's biggest victory (ignoring that the German constitutional court is also faced with a barrage of demands to undo the ESM), and on hopes that tomorrow the ECB will announce something more drastic than the now widely expected 25 basis point cut. In other words a hope rally, even as bonds, and FX have now diverged dramatically with the hope gripping the global stock market. And hope is good, however if it becomes an investing "strategy" total loss is virtually guaranteed. That said, perhaps for the first time ever, bonds are wrong, and stocks are right, and all the bad news has been priced in (unlike all those other times when everyone said the same, and when everyone was certain they would sell first ahead of the herd). Which brings us to the question that Citi's Steven Englander has just asked himself: "So what can go wrong?" Here is his answer (in five parts).
Finland and the Netherlands seem to be saying that they will not approve the use of EFSF or ESM funds in the secondary market. Finland also wants collateral on any loans to Spanish banks
The line-up of countries seeking similar terms to Italy and Spain keeps growing
IMF’s Lagarde says with respect to Greece “I am not in a negotiation or renegotiation mood at all”
Investors seem increasingly to be counting on ECB action beyond the policy/deposit rates to ease the soveregin debt market
There is a gap between indicators of economic conditions and market appetite for risk. The average of US, China and euro zone economic surprises is at its lowest level ever, other than in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman bankruptcy (see Figure 1 below). investors
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/so-what-can-go-wrong?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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