Respiro para los mercados

Los principales bancos centrales han acordado facilitar la financiación, ampliando sus  dispositivos de swaps Euro/dólares y ampliando su duración de una semana a 3 meses. Inmediatamente las bolsas han subido, especialmente las acciones de los bancos europeos sospechosos de dificultades para conseguir dólares. De ALphaville

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided, in coordination with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, to conduct three US dollar liquidity-providing operations with a maturity of approximately three months covering the end of the year. These operations will be conducted in addition to the ongoing weekly seven-day operations announced on 10 May 2010. The schedule for these additional operations is as follows:

So, three months rather than the current seven-day length of the current dollar liquidity-providing operations.

Other statements: Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, Bank of Japan. French bank shares were rocketing upwards at pixel time: BNP Paribas rose 22 per cent following the statements.

¿Cuál era la razón  de la escasez de dólares? su alta demanda como puerto de refugio.

En FT:

The main reason for the spike in the cost of swapping euros for dollars is the overwhelming demand for the US currency due to its growing status as a haven in the face of rising worries of an imminent Greek default that could spark a deeper sovereign debt crisis.

European banks, which need to borrow dollars to repay loans, face an extra premium of 103 basis points to swap euros into dollars for three-month loans – a dramatic jump since June when they only had to pay an extra 20bp.

La necesidad de dólares para hacer frente al vencimiento de deudas era tan fuerte que algunos bancos llegaron a prestar sus tenencias de oro para lograr dólares. En Alpahville:

 European banks are using their gold to access US dollar funding as liquidity falls in other markets, the FT says. Dealers and analysts reported increased interest in lending gold for dollars recently. Gold lease rates have fallen to record lows in recent days, although this also reflects the reluctance of bullion banks to take gold for dollars, traders said. FT Alphaville has more on the inversion in gold lease rates. The corporate clients of some French banks have sought financing from other lenders as a hedge against a credit crunch, the WSJ reports. European leaders have been warned in a report for this weekend’s summit that the risk of a credit crunch has risen,Reuters reports.