Central bank money printing can only suspend reality for so long as we’ve seen time and again that economic growth is not driven by ever cheaper money when deleveraging and policy incompetence rule the day. At least until the Nov election, the earnings story will continue to drive markets as it has since the Monday after the FOMC EQE (endless QE) news. In Europe, not surprisingly, the Bank of Spain said the Spanish economy contracted for the 5th straight quarter in Q3 by .4% q/o/q. Also, Moody’s downgraded 4 Spanish regions with Andalucia now junk and the other 3 further into junk. French business confidence in Oct fell 5 pts from Sept to the lowest since Aug ’09. Spanish bonds are trading lower but the 2 yr yield is still below 3% for now. In Asia, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority intervened again, buying US$’s to maintain their peg.
