US and European Subdued Reaction to French, Greek Voting

The tide has turned in Europe... against austerity, whatever that means, and towards more socialistic societies in both France and Greece, as Francois Hollande defeated right wing president Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday, and the Greek Parliamentary elections produced a government with no clear majority for any party and difficult coalitions to be formed ahead.

While the French election results represent a complete shift in sentiment, the issues for Greece will almost surely come to the forefront of Europe's continuing debt crisis as minority parties will almost surely attempt to block the wholesale gutting of the country by the ECB and IMF. Recent agreements over debt restructuring and repayment are already suffering serious difficulty; the opportunity for a disorderly default by the Hellenic nation certainly back on the table.

Reaction in Asia was negative, with all markets suffering losses, probably the eventual result for markets globally, once the "all is well" phony, manipulated response in Europe and America is worked through. european markets were mixed, as were those in the US, the result of more central planning and full-spectrum control, which will eventually fail.

There was no other economic news worth noting, though, as is usually the case in controlled, bogus markets, the day's results were muted and in plain opposition to facts.

There will almost certainly be a period of adjustment in the Western markets before the full brunt of a sea change in politics is accepted. Until then, expect markets in the US and Europe to behave as they have been, adrift on piles of freshly-printed worthless money, in denial of the truth and more than likely sideways before heading into the awaiting maw of the abyss into which they must fall.

Almost imperceptibly, the decline in equity prices has already begun. New lows bettered new highs for the second straight session, an indicator that should not be ignored during a period of rapid change.

Dow 13,008.53, -29.74 (0.23%)
NASDAQ 2,957.76, +1.42 (0.05%)
S&P 500 1,369.58, +0.48 (0.04%)
NYSE Composite 7,948.77, +15.47 (0.19%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,738,947,625
NYSE Volume 3,535,832,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3054-2523
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 112-134
WTI crude oil: 97.94, -0.55
Gold: 1,639.10, -6.10
Silver: 30.12, -0.31