McWilliams on the dealers, he should know.....

[barrym]

Extract from his latest....

"One of the big changes in finance since those days [fall of the Berlin wall times] is that, today, much of the world and certainly peripheral Europe look like emerging markets. Ireland is a classic case in point, depending on foreign capital to finance itself and its banks.

We have opened ourselves up to the financial casino.

Now the financial casino is out of control, with the policy of countries being judged by people who have no idea about the countries. So during last week it was ‘sell France’, the previous week it was ‘sell Italy’."

He goes on to explain the situation from the viewpoint of a proprietary trader, which he apparently was at one time.

The usual cautions apply to McW but it is scary stuff.

Any traders on here willing to comment??

[C. Flower]

Banks play away and die at home

[morticia]

Banks play away and die at home

Unfortunately true... except that there are so many foreign derrieres on the line if we go splat that I doubt we'll be allowed. We may be the exception, not the rule, however.

I doubt the Germans want their banks to lose 159bn, UK exposure is higher, and given credit default swaps etc, the US wouldn't be happy either