As speculators attack the euro, Europe is facing a growing threat of national bankruptcies. The consequences would be dramatic for the whole of the continent, especially German banks, which are highly exposed to risky debt. EU politicians are willing to pay almost any price to help the beleaguered countries. By SPIEGEL staff.
On Wall Street, they call Bill Lipschutz the “Sultan of Currencies.” He once turned the legendary investment bank Salomon Brothers into the world’s largest foreign currency trading operation. Today Lipschutz runs his own hedge fund, which specializes in currencies.
“I still approach the market the same way. I still approach it as a 24/7 market,” says Lipschutz. He trades almost constantly, even at home in his apartment in New York’s trendy NoHo district, where there are monitors everywhere. Every night, Lipschutz gets up at two or three in the morning to see what is happening on the European markets.
Europe is indeed currently the hottest topic on the global financial markets. The value of the battered euro has been falling since the Greek government confessed to the actual scope of its debt — and since it became clear that things are not looking significantly better in the other PIIGS countries (the acronym refers to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).
There has never been this much uncertainty. No one knows whether the Greeks will manage to solve their problems, whether and how other countries will come to their aid, whether the crisis can be confined to Greece or whether it will spread like wildfire among the PIIGS — and end up tearing apart the European currency union. . . . . .
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