| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 |
Today
Videos
Polls
RSS Feed Business14. 08. 12. - 09:00
The long lasting knock-on effects
Croatian Times
Like Hollywood’s ‘Terminator,’ modern financial markets have no fear or remorse. Error is punished mercilessly. Unfortunately for Western nations, we have a whole lot of ‘error’ stored up.
Whilst Croatia is not yet officially part of the single currency and is certainly better off than Spain and Italy, there’s no escaping long lasting knock-on effects. Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN.com and author of investment guides and financial thrillers, (www.clemchambers.com) explains.
A core player in the US market experienced a computer glitch of epic proportions last week. Its super high-tech robot trading system ran amok, buying and selling at random and blowing over US$400 million in 30 minutes. After that initial brief period of chaos the market effectively swallowed the mistake. Within a few hours it had consumed the loss and redistributed it to the other market players. One can only guess the looks on the faces of all those involved at Knight Securities, from the guy that pressed the "on" button on the newly updated software, right the way up to the CEO.
Discovering some IT guy in your organisation on around US$80,000 a year just incinerated US$400 million, putting your company and the livelihoods of 1400 people on the line with a single keystroke must be mindboggling. Yet that’s the way the market works. Error is punished mercilessly. The market - like Hollywood’s Terminator - has no fear and no remorse. It will not stop.
Empires like the USSR fall because the market cannot be defeated. Whereas empires that choose to harness it - like the West - rise, based on the market’s efficiency in allocating resources to where they will be best used. This is why people in Croatia and other Western European nations can often live into their 80s rather than their 40s.
Whilst markets are rough and tough, they’re also bountiful. The lesson is; don’t fight the market, harness it. ITALIAN JOB It’s thus tragically ironic – or perhaps hilarious if your sense of humour is black enough - to find Mario Monti, the unelected prime minister of Italy, bemoaning that the "market" doesn’t understand Italy or how much it has done to reform itself – that it is consequently unfair of it to demand such high interest rates. The market understands full well. Italy has blown its capital and can no longer afford to service its debts at the commercial rate of interest demanded by markets. Italy is on the brink of not being able to roll on its debts. The merry-go-round of free funding for sovereigns is grinding to a halt. And it’s a merry-go-round that doesn’t want to spin fast again. What is referred to as "the market" is in fact made up of untold numbers of thinking, calculating agents constantly looking for the best, most safest place to stash hard-gained resources.
Yet Italy thinks it’s the market’s fault. The market is "wrong" say the borrowers who spent money like water and now think that they know best. MARKET FEAR It is often claimed the market is dysfunctional, not efficient; a dangerous hazard. Sadly, we have good cause to be scared. For it will be the market that will level the broken systems choking the West. It’s inevitable - you simply cannot buck economics. And a market, be it free or otherwise, is the transmission mechanism of economics. When governments fight the market they are only storing up trouble by borrowing either financially or economically from the future. Economics can only be frustrated for so long.
Both Europe and the US are trying to build ever more elaborate defences against the basic economic principle that you can’t be in deficit forever without running out of resources in the end. In a free market, the economic comeuppance is short and sharp, a fate experienced by Knights Securities last Wednesday. In a controlled market, the pain can be drawn out for a long, long period, the fate we are experiencing today. To be getting on with progress, the former outcome is better than the latter, but we are all prepared to sacrifice some level benefit in return for short term comfort and safety. This is where governments come in, as a force of economic mitigation. It can now be said we are giving up too much upside for the price of that short term comfort.
We are likely to finish much worse off economically as a consequence. When the protective fiscal and monetary dams break - as they must if the West continues down the path it is on - we will rue swapping an acute economic crisis for a chronic one.
~ Clem Chambers is CEO of the leading financial information and investors website ADVFN and author of books including A Beginner’s Guide to Value Investing and 101 Ways to Pick Stock Market Winners, both out now on the Kindle. His latest financial thriller is available for pre-order now.
Links: 1. ADVFN http://advfn.com/ 2. Beginner’s Guide http://www.amazon.com/ADVFN-Guide-Beginners-Investing-ebook/dp/B007HAZV0K/ref=la_B0034OKF36_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1343299293&sr=1-6 3. !01 Ways http://www.amazon.com/ADVFN-Guide-Market-Winners-ebook/dp/B0062F6LIM/ref=la_B0034OKF36_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1344444714&sr=1-6 4.Latest Financial Thriller http://www.amazon.com/First-Horseman-Clem-Chambers/dp/1842436546/ref=la_B0034OKF36_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1343299293&sr=1-5 (ends)
Tag cloud resources European markets blowing Italy harness thrillers ADVFN UTF8 Clem debts fate Beginner la_B0034OKF36_1_6 economically economics Ways amazon Chambers financial
Croatian cities to get 30 million Euro from EU
Croatian cities will receive 30 million Euro per year from the European Union for a project called "sustainable city", an expert for energetic efficiency Ana Pavicic Kaselj has told to business daily Poslovni Dnevnik.
Serbian tycoon wants to invest in Croatian hotels
Serbian tycoon Miodrag Kostic has revealed his intention to invest in Croatian hotels.
Gibonni to perform in Viennas Chaya Fuera
Croatian singer and songwriter Gibonni will peform in Vienna on 20 June.
Lightning kills a man in Veliko Vukovje
A lightning strike has killed a man in Croatia who went to hide from rain under an oak tree.
Croat accused for insurance fraud in Germany
A Croat is in court in Wandsbek, Germany accused of insurance fraud.
Croatian companies consider to move their production towards east
Some of the biggest Croatian companies could move their production out of the EU when the country joins the European Union on 1 July.
Eliademy spreads to Croatia from next week
Finland based global company Eliademy will launch their project in Croatia starting from next week.
EBRD supports Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will support Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer Piramida with 3.6 million Euro.
Germany ratifies Croatian agreement to join EU
Germany has been the last EU country to ratify Croatian agreement to join the European Union.
Smoker ends up in flames
Doctors in Croatia are fighting for the life of a peasant that tried to light up a cigarette when pouring fuel into his chainsaw.
The most popular stories –
last 7 days
