The Cannes Festival

No, not the film fete, but plenty of drama and some comedy anyway as G20 sets the 11/4 meeting
in Cannes as a deadline for confronting the EU's sovereign debt crisis, a problem severe enough
to lead to bank funding problems in the Eurozone. Already the Fed has had to commit to a large
pool of dollars on loan to the EU area to provide funding liquidity. Moreover, the US dollar
has recently rallied strongly, an event the US does not wish to see sustained. Economists, fund
managers and leading gov. officials are peppering the press with jeremiads to the need for the
EU to step up and make its intentions and plans known pronto. There are rumors and stories
that US Treas. Sec. Geithner is forcefully urging the EU to act quickly and comprehensively on
this matter and that some sort of large scale bail out plan is in the works. To underscore non-EU
concern, the IMF's chief LaGarde is saying large fund infusions may be needed if the IMF must
address solvency problems beyond Greece. This would mean the US, the UK et al would have to
pony up more $.

First step this week is to determine fact from fancy. The interesting issue here is that Geithner
is leaning hard on the EU with generalities but out in full view....