China and Spain

Energy,Spain,Peru Reverse Breakouts, China,Steel, Coal Intact

Another Make or Break: Spain Approaching Resistance

iShares MSCI Spain (EWP)

Catalonia Votes for Independence on October 1

Guardian: Catalonia calls independence referendum for October

Catalonia’s long-awaited and bitterly controversial referendum on independence from Spain will be finally held on 1 October, the regional government announced on Friday, triggering yet another political and judicial showdown with Madrid.

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, said that voters in the unilateral referendum would be asked the question: “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a republic?”

Puigdemont’s pro-sovereignty administration insists the wealthy north-eastern region has a political, economic and cultural right to self-determination.

...“When they’ve asked us what we Catalans want, we’ve given them proposals - all kinds of proposals,” he said. “But they have all - without exception - been rejected or seriously cut back.”

According to the article, polling from March shows the independence vote will lose. Also, it looks like an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern that points to a rally of 50 percent if it completes. Time may be running out.

Hasta La Vista Espagne!

The debt just keeps coming. Here are two articles that explain where the Greek government debt has gone too:
‘We believe the market might be underestimating the risks the [Spanish] financial system faces’
Irony: Greek Banks Aren't the Most Exposed

And by the way, Ciao Italia!
Italy ❤ currency swaps too

Is Spain finished too?

Spanish intelligence probing debt "attacks"-report

"The (CNI's) Economic Intelligence division...is investigating whether investors' attacks and the aggressiveness of some Anglo-Saxon media are driven by market forces and challenges facing the Spanish economy, or whether there is something more behind this campaign," El Pais said.

Officials at the CNI were not available for comment.

The report comes days after Public Works Minister Jose Blanco protested "somewhat murky manoeuvres" were behind financial market pressure on Spain.

"None of what is happening in the world, including the editorials of foreign newspapers, is coincidental or innocent," Blanco said.

Unless there's an Al-Qaeda plot to retake Andalusia that includes financial warfare, Spain is in trouble for the same reasons as every other indebted state.

PIGS get slaughtered

Greece is doing a number on the euro and that, plus a general decline in markets, has the eurozone ETF sinking below its 200-day moving average.

Here's the Athens composite index. Notice the 50-day has crossed the 200-day.

Here's iShares Spain (EWP) crashing through its 200-day. Spain is a bigger threat to Europe and the euro because it is a much larger economy than Greece and still has a housing bubble.

I have no idea what will happen next week, but it seems Greece is coming to a head. Once bailout rumors begin, they can only be stopped by very forceful action. Words will no longer satisfy the markets.