The Great Debate UK
from Commentaries:
Don’t be fooled by global stock stumble
Don't blame global stock markets for being skittish. It is August, after all, a month that has spelled trouble in the past two years.
Recall that, a year ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started wobbling at the precipice while AIG, desperate for cash, began paying junk-like yields in the corporate bond market. A month later, all hell broke loose.
In August 2007, a shutdown in short-term lending markets forced global policy makers to rush in with a flood of liquidity to keep the lifeblood of the financial system from clotting.
So it's only natural that, this year, sellers are trigger-happy at the slightest whiff of trouble.
A reality check from Standard & Poor’s
– Neil Collins is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own –
Standard & Poor’s could have chosen a better day to kick the British economy, by placing the UK onto “negative outlook”, the usual precursor to a downgrade of S&P’s rating of an issuer’s debt.
