The Hand of Diesel-Boom Detected In The Market

Jeroen Dijsselbloem has been busy again, today saying that there were no signs of a bank run in periphery countries or deposits moved from periphery to core.

That's nice.

Except that the banks in Cyprus are closed, and are likely to remain closed until after Easter.

Once they re open there will most certainly be bank runs and deposit moves.

Meanwhile maybe someone should tell Dijsselbloem that the banks are shut and, more pertinently, that he should shut his mouth!

Haircut For Depositors In Other European Countries

As per The Slog:

"We cannot exclude a haircut for depositors in other European countries."

You have been warned!

We are all Bulldozer Man now!

Cyprus Brings Euro Project Crashing To Earth

The former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus (Athanasios Orphanides) has vented his spleen against the Eurozone and the ECB over the handling of the Cyprus bailout farce.

Mr Orphanides told the FT that the EU has been condemned to economic disintegration as a result of top policy makers’ “bullying” of Cyprus and “cavalier attitude” towards the expropriation of property:

“The European project is crashing to earth.

This is a fundamental change in the dynamics of Europe towards disintegration and I don’t see how this can be reversed.”

He bemoaned the lack of "fraternal" support from fellow Eurozone members:

“I would have expected them to support the European project. I would have expected them to protect the citizens of the smallest and weakest member states against discrimination. We have seen a cavalier attitude towards the expropriation of property and the bullying of a people.”

He noted that:

“It suggests that in Europe not all people are equal under the law.”

He quite rightly notes that the outcome of this ongoing farce has yet to be fully felt in the global financial markets:

“I don’t think that the full extent of the shattering of the trust that we have seen in this case . . . has been seen fully yet.

Banks’ funding costs in the [southern eurozone] periphery will rise further – there is no way we will avoid that. This in turn will make the recession in the periphery deeper, adding to the misery that the mishandling of the crisis has caused so far.”

Were one a cynic one might wonder whether this farce has been deliberately engineered in order to force the "peripheral" countries out of the Eurozone, or to give Germany the excuse it needs to leave it.

Cyprus - Another Fine Mess!

Ekathimerini reports that Eurozone finance officials (pictured above) acknowledged being "in a mess" over Cyprus during a conference call on Wednesday, and discussed imposing capital controls to insulate the region from a possible collapse of the Cypriot economy.

One official described emotions as running "very high", making it difficult to come up with rational solutions, and referred to "open talk in regards of (Cyprus) leaving the Eurozone".

Cyprus Issued With Ultimatum

The ECB has issued Cyprus with an ultimatum:

"Decide by Monday, or else!"

All very threatening and all that, but what then when Cyprus does not acquiesce?

The contagion will spread.

Cyprus Going Into Financial Lockdown

Some five days after the start of the self inflicted banking crisis, Cyprus has finally decided to try to start to stem the outflows of capital from its dying banking sector. The Cyprus central bank is drafting rules to curb deposit outflow.

Unfortunately, it seems that those in power in Cyprus already emptied their accounts last week!

Cyprus Votes Down Bailout

The Cypriot Parliament yesterday voted down the bailout "plan" which was meant to raid the savings accounts of everyone with a bank account in Cyprus.

Oddly enough the party that had agreed the deal abstained.

One wonders why they had agreed to it in the first place?

The ball has now been kicked very firmly back to the IMF, ECB and Eurozone. Despite numerous threats coming out from Berlin, about there being no banks left to open in Cyprus if Cyprus doesn't get its act together, the Cypriots know full well that it is now up to their "friends" within the Eurozone to resolve this monumental clusterfuck.

The "game" continues!

Cyprus Banks To Remain Closed

I wrote on Monday that the banks in Cyprus (contrary to what officials were saying) would remain closed until at least Friday, this has now been confirmed.

At this point I would draw your attention to what I wrote on Tuesday, about them most likely being closed until at least next Tuesday after next Monday's official bank holiday (to celebrate Greek Independence Day).

Cyprus Insider Dealing

As per Swiss Banker:

"#BREAKING Cyprus media report President's associates & other economic “heads” have withdrawn in last 2 weeks huge amounts from local banks."

How very "surprising"!

Cyprus Vote Postponed Again

The planned vote on the failed Cyprus bailout plan (allegedly to taken place this afternoon) has, according to Cyprus media reports, been postponed until tomorrow.

The slow agonising death of the Cypriot banking system continues!

The Cyprus Clusterfuck Continues

As the Cyprus clsuterfuck continues, and the country's "leaders" struggle to find a plan B, the mainstream media are still sticking to the line that the banks will re open this Thursday.

However, as I noted yesterday, the non official planned re opening is in fact Friday. That being said I note that next Monday is a genuine bank holiday in Cyprus (to celebrate Greek Independence Day), the Twittersphere is leaning towards the view that the banks will in fact remain closed until at least next Tuesday.

Other unconfirmed reports indicate that Cypriot MPs have been receiving calls from various Russian businessmen.

Meanwhile the people of Cyprus continue to withdraw cash from the ATMs.

Run On Cyprus Banks UPDATE

This morning I wrote that Cyprus's banks would remain closed until Thursday.

It seems that I was wrong.

The New York Times reports that the banks will now in fact remain closed until Friday, or maybe even beyond Friday!

Proof positive that there is a run on the banks in Cyprus.

Vladimir Putin is not best pleased with this and has described the state sponsored theft as "unfair, unprofessional and dangerous".

Russia has $60 billion exposure to Cyprus, which will be withdrawn once the levy is imposed. Thus, in one fell swoop this "plan" will destroy the Cypriot banking system

Meanwhile the ECB and Germany are falling over each other to wash their hands of having played any part in this clusterfuck even though the Cypriots claim that the "plan" was imposed on them.

This will not end well

NatWest Online Crashed

NatWest online has just crashed, and apparently NatWest debit cards are not working either!

As per NatWest site:

"We're sorry but online banking is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.

If you continue to experience this situation please contact the online banking helpdesk for further assistance.

For a list of helpdesk numbers, please see our page of contact numbers "

They fail to mention that their debit cards don't work either!

Oddly enough, Nationwide are also experiencing problems.

The Faecesbook Clusterfuck - The IPO That Just Keeps Giving

The clusterfuck IPO of Facebook last week is an IPO that, for those who haven't touched these shares with a bargepole, that just keeps giving.

Unsurprisingly these massively overvalued shares fell again yesterday, by 9%. However, Faecesbook mission to "find bottom" in the market is far from over.

The BBC reports that the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are concerned about the way advisers disclosed information to investors, and may review the disclosure process to see if some investors got favourable access.

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that Faecesbook's advisers may have revised their financial forecasts, but that only selected investors were told.

Oops, how very remiss of them!

Morgan Stanley said that the bank had:

"followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all initial public offerings".

In other news, Philip Goldberg (a private investor) has issued a writ against Nasdaq over technical problems on Friday that made a shambles of disrupted Faecesbook's first trading day.

Rest assured, the Faecesbook clusterfuck will run and run!

Start Printing The Drachma!

Reuters reports that De La Rue, the British bank note printer, has drawn up contingency plans to print drachma banknotes should Greece exit the Euro.

Unsurprisingly, shares in De La Rue have risen by 11% over the last month on anticipation of this news.

Why use a UK priner, as opposed to a Greek printer?

Well, as Zero Hedge states, Greece ran out of ink when it tried to print tax returns!

In other news EU trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, has said that the European Commission and the European Central Bank are working on an emergency scenario in case Greece has to leave the Eurozone.

As befitting an organisation that couldn't run a whorehouse, let alone manage a crisis, this statement was denied later in the day by @ECspokesOlivier (a subordinate of Gucht) who claimed that no plan is in the works.

Suffice to say, no one believes Olivier.