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Exclusive: Euro zone considering bond insurance for Spain -
sources - (www.reuters.com) The euro zone is considering aiding Spain by providing insurance for investors
who buy government bonds in a move designed to maintain Spanish access to
capital markets and minimize the cost to European taxpayers, European sources
said. One senior European source said the plan could cost about 50 billion
euros ($64.5 billion) for a year. It would enable Spain to cover its full
funding needs and trigger potentially unlimited European Central bank buying of
short-term Spanish bonds in the secondary market.
Iranians Abandon Meat for Bread as Rial Drop Fires Protests
- (www.bloomberg.com) Iran’s
freefalling currency is turning meat into a luxury, sparking overnight price
surges and spurring shoppers to stockpile goods.
“Most of
my customers just look at products behind the window and pass,” said Behrouz
Madani, 42, who owns a butcher shop in northwest Tehran. “I see them going to
the next store, which is a bakery, to feed their families with bread.” Iran’s
rial is in a tailspin, having lost more than half of its value against the
dollar in street trading in the past two months as U.S. and European sanctions
aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear program bite. Riot police yesterday
fired tear gas and sealed off parts of downtown Tehran after the currency’s
plunge triggered street protests. Hundreds of security forces patrolled the
area today and most foreign currency shops were closed. The inflation rate,
estimated by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani at 29 percent last week, has
accelerated to the point where the price of milk in Tehran rose 9 percent
yesterday.
Eyes on Spain as ECB meets, bazooka ready - (www.reuters.com) European Central Bank
President Mario Draghi said on Thursday everything was in place for the bank to
buy the bonds of troubled euro zone countries such as Spain and that conditions linked to it
need not be punitive. At the first ECB meeting since Draghi unveiled his
controversial bond-purchase plan a month ago, markets were looking for signs of
when Spain might make a formal aid request and trigger the program that some
have hailed as a savior for the battered euro zone.
Romney's
Strong Debate Showing Puts Europe on Edge - (www.cnbc.com)
In Europe, where leaders and
finance officials have worked closely with the Obama administration over the
past 2½ years trying to resolve the euro area debt crisis, there was particular
consternation at Romney's singling out of deficit-ridden
Spain as a poorly administered economy. "Romney is making analogies that
aren't based on reality," Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel
Garcia-Margallo told reporters after a meeting of his center-right party. Leading
Spanish daily El Pais highlighted the fact that Spain was the only European country
mentioned, and contrasted Romney's negative depiction of it with Obama's praise
for Spain's renewable energy policies during the 2008 campaign.
Gas
prices spiking in California - (money.cnn.com)
Drivers in California could
soon be paying nearly $5 a gallon for gasoline as prices in the wholesale
market have surged this week. Wholesale gasoline prices in Los Angeles jumped
Thursday to $4.35 a gallon, according to Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil
Price Information Service. The wholesale price is "by far the highest
we've ever seen in that market," said Kloza. Once taxes and other costs
are factored in, wholesale gas prices in California are at levels consistent
with retail prices near $5 a gallon, he added. "California is ground zero
for one of the most dramatic price spikes in a while," said Kloza.
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