Nogger's Blog

05/11/11 -- It's Bommy Night as we used to call it when I was a kid. It should have been Bonny Night I suppose but it wasn't it was Bommy Night. I remember setting fire to the contents of the bin one year when me Mum & Dad's backs were turned just to see what would happen. I don't know what I thought would happen, apart from everything would burn which it sure did. It's not easy putting a fire out without anybody noticing it when you're only six.

It clearly isn't proving too easy to put a fire out with the combined might of the G20, the ECB, the IMF and the eurozone is it, so what chance did I have?

It was Harold Wilson who said that a week is a long time on politics as I recall, and this has certainly been a long week. In fact as I write this at 11am on Saturday morning the weekend is already shaping up like being a long one itself.

I'm speaking at a conference in the Midlands on Monday and my presentation is far from finished, it's been such a busy week with lots of distractions. Already this morning though a series of other things keep grabbing my attention.

One of them being yields on Italian 10-year bonds setting a fresh euro-era high of 6.4% yesterday. Anything above 6% is generally regarded as being unsustainable and has prompted other eurozone countries to come cap in hand for a bailout.

Italian PM Berlusconi says he doesn't think Italy needs a loan from the IMF. That's what Greece, Portugal and Ireland said too wasn't it? And let's face it, can you trust a man who reckons he slept with eight women on the same night?

The Greek PM got his vote of confidence by a squeak I see, with 153 "oh go on then" votes out of 300. That should add a bit of calm to the markets a little on Monday in theory.

What won't however is a CME announcement after the close on Friday night that it is to substantially increase margin calls on all futures and options. This will be the first time they have ever done this across the board on all commodities at the same time I gather.

The move is obviously prompted by the fallout from the demise of MF Global, and could have major implications for those who find that they can't stump up the extra required funding at the drop of a hat to keep their positions open.

For more info on this story go here, and pay particular attention to the last paragraph: CME increases margin call; markets will be under pressure.

There's never a dull moment is there?