Scandinavia Versus The Euro Zone

The economies Sweden and Norway in Scandinavia grow faster and both have a lower unemployment rate than the average of the Euro Zone. Fiscal positions are also considrably better in Norway and Sweden. The manufacturing indicator is slowing down for these countries lately as well though.

Thompson Reuters

Dutch Economy in 8 Graphs

With the Dutch elections today this chart may come in handy. The Dutch economy is doing 'better' for most of the indicators than the Euro zone average. Late tonight (local time) the first estimation of the results are expected. A close result between the right party (VVD) and the left party (PVDA) is very likely. A colation needs to be formed to make the new government.

Reuters

French 10-year Bond Yield History

This graph from Bank of America shows the history of the interest rate of the French government. Besides the spike in borrowing costs during the French Revolution, what is also interesting is the continuous decline in interest rate since the 1970s.

Business Insider

Financial Markets Reaction to the Euro Zone Bailouts

Reuters made these great graphs which give an overview of the market reaction to the Euro Zone bailouts. The following indicators are shown: euro/dollar, Euro Zone banks, Euro Zone government banks and Euro Zone equities.

Reuters

Japanese Government Debt Approaching 250 Percent

Although the interest rate the Japanse government pays on its debt is one of the lowest, the debt it has is the highest debt as a percentage of GDP in the world.

Reuters

Credit Ratings Overview April 2012

The ratings by S&P and Moody's are generally viewed as the most important. As you can see only Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have an AAA-rating by all of the credit rating agencies.

Italy & Spain Main Users First LTRO

This graph from a BIS report (European bank funding and deleveraging) shows on the left for which amount in billion euro's banks of the countries in the Euro Zone have used the first 'Longer Term Refinancing Operation' 3 year loans of the European Central Bank. 

The second graph shows how the banks have changed their holdings of government debt in the three months after the LTRO. It seems Italy and Spain have used the LTRO money partly to buy government debt. As seen by the large decrease in the interest rates of the government bonds of these two countries in the given period it is most likely the bonds that the banks bought were Spanish and Italian.

Euro Zone Bond Spreads Above Historical Levels Part 2 (Since 1970)

Three weeks ago I posted this overview of government bond spreads for the PIIGS compared to Germany:

http://www.economicsinpictures.com/2011/11/house-prices-around-world-us-house.html

That chart went back to 1990. This one goes back to 1970 and has much more data for Greece. You can see that in the 80s bond spreads were particularly high as well.

World: Safest Versus Riskiest Government Debt

This graph from The Economist compares two-year government debt bond yields in the world. On the left side the riskiest bonds are listed (with the highest interest rate) and on the rate sate the safest bonds. Notable is that two out of three of the three countries that have riskiest government bonds are in Europe. The three safest countries are in Europe as well.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

Bond Yields PIIGS compared to Germany and France since 1995

This graph from Der Spiegel shows the 10-year Government Bond Yields from the PIIGS-countries (Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy) compared to the economically strong(er) countries Germany and France.

Der Spiegel

Maturity Of Spanish Bonds In The Coming Years

This graph from Der Spiegel Shows which amount of its bonds Spain has to pay back to investors each year.

Der Spiegel

Maturity Of Italian Bonds In The Coming Years

This graph from Der Spiegel Shows which amount of its bonds Italy has to pay back to investors each year.

Der Spiegel

Maturity Of Greek Bonds In The Coming Years

This graph from Der Spiegel Shows which amount of its bonds Greece has to pay back to investors each year.

Der Spiegel

Maturity Of Irish Bonds In The Coming Years

This graph from Der Spiegel Shows which amount of its bonds Ireland has to pay back to investors each year.

Debt Ceiling: The United States Bonds Are 59% of Total AAA Government-Issued Debt

This picture shows that the United States government bonds are very important in the total AAA-rated government bond market.

Think Progress

Reminder Bank Holdings of PIIGS Government Debt --> Italy

This chart from Business Insider shows how the banks are exposed to Government Debt of the PIIGS-countries. You can see the problem with Italy..

Source: Business Insider

United States National Debt + Liabilities: 351% of GDP as of 2010

Besides the current outstanding national debt, the United States has a lot of liabilities. 

This table by Economy Watch with figures from the United States 2010 financial report (page 21) gives the total United States debt and liabilities. 

Economy Watch

With the table I constructed this chart with the (total) debt and liabilities as a percentage of 2010 GDP.

Who Is Funding The U.S. Deficit?

In Q1 of 2011 the Federal Reserve was by fas the biggest buyer of US debt. What will happen when the Federal Reserve stops buying treasuries in July?

Source: Ritholtz

Bank Holdings of PIIGS Government Debt

This chart from Business Insider shows how the banks are exposed to Government Debt of the PIIGS-countries. You can see the problem with Italy..

Source: Business Insider

All the Greek Scenario's with Likelihood

Analysts of Merril Lynch constructed this chart with the different scenario's for Greece. With the most likely scenario on top and the least scenario on the bottom, more than one scenario's are possible. Click of the picture for a larger version.

Source: Financial Times