Ali/Frazier, Yanks/Red Sox, McEnroe/Borg, Lakers/Celtics, Tom/Jerry, a line of classic matchups that can now add Trichet/Schaeuble. Schaeuble, the German Finance Minister, a day after Trichet reiterated that they will accept no Greek default whatsoever, said to the German Parliament that “we have to insist on the participation of the private sector” in bailing out Greece. This ongoing spat has CDS in Greece, Ireland and Portugal at fresh record highs with bond yields higher for all and Spanish CDS quietly rising to a 3 week high. European stocks are also down as a result. Asian stocks also traded very mixed as the Hang Seng fell to a 12 week low led by property companies. South Korea unexpectedly raised rates by 25 bps to 3.25% as they expect “inflationary pressures to continue in the coming months” and the Kospi fell 1.2%. China did report a larger than expected gain in imports, which usually implies an eventual pickup in exports but ahead of CPI Monday night, concerns of another soon to be rate hike is out there. Canada saw its unemployment rate fall to 7.4%, the lowest since Jan ’09.
