rashbre central: crazy in the coconut?

Friday 24 June 2016

crazy in the coconut?


Yeah, well. We're on the path to being out of the EU.

The FX traders had stayed up overnight chipping away at the pound, from the pre-poll close at $1.50, then to $1.44 on the first results and by morning down around $1.34. Black Wednesday again. Twice.

As the stock market opened we saw FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 plummet. Aside from the listed companies' own fortunes, it's also pension funds and jobs that take the hammering.

At least Mark Carney's Bank of England action was a stabilising force. He'd found £600 billion of liquidity and provided access to £250 billion of it to the banks. This action stopped the slide and saw a partial recovery on the markets.

Ironically, the BoE £250 billion is somewhat larger than the hotly contested figure of £350 million per week that was a headline figure during the pre-referendum campaigning.

It's about 13 years worth of that money, provided all at once. Quantitive Easing, anyone?

Whilst Carney brought some management, Cameron was speeching his own exit. Saying he wanted to bring stability whilst at the same time quitting and throwing a new leadership scramble onto the table. I notice the Economist didn't mince its words when it described Cameron afterwards.

Flash over to Islington, where Bo-Jo was getting into a minicab prior to his own statement. The crowds seemed -er- animated. He is no doubt doing a few career deals and getting storyline before he goes in front of the cameras.

Less so with the Labour guy. He was on BBC radio earlier than Cameron and talking about job losses. He seems to have become swamped in Jexit and the speculation of a further leadership contest for his own party.

And if Cameron is only around until October, there'll be a new selection process for his replacement. They need someone to press the big red button to fire the EU ejector seat. Assuming that the EU survives. There's already talk of Frexit and the Italian stock market is taking a duffing from today's events.

Osborne is unselectable and already the nominated scapegoat. In any case the voting will need to be for a new Brexiteer Prime Minister. Unlike the referendum, this will be in the hands of the mere 160,000 members of the Conservative Party.

Unless someone decides it is time to call a General Election.

Stability, huh?

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