Sorry to post this out of the thread from a couple days ago, but regarding Formation Metals, they lost their $79 million financing deal with French Bank BNP Paribas. I had a look at BNP’s situation. For one, I don’t care for their annual report format which is like a circus pamphlet without a real income statement in the entire thing. Next, the WSJ published the following, which is of interest in itself:

“PARIS—BNP Paribas SA said it slashed its exposure to Italian government debt and took a hefty charge on Greek government bonds in a further sign of how Europe’s banks are responding to the euro zone’s debt crisis.

The French bank wrote down its exposure to Greek government debt by 60%, against the 50% mandated under the European Union’s new plan to stem the crisis. The write-downs and losses from the sale of sovereign debt pushed the bank’s third-quarter profit down a steeper-than-expected 72%.

The Paris-based lender, France’s largest bank by market value, also said it plans to cut hundreds of jobs and reduce bonuses.

BNP Paribas said net profit in the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to €541 million from €1.9 billion a year earlier. Revenue fell 7.6% to €10 billion from €10.9 billion. The net result missed analysts’ forecasts of €876 million.”

With regards to Formation, I’m pretty sure someone will provide their financing and today’s news makes for a good buying opp. It looks like BNP Paribas might be trying to reduce exposure of all kinds, considering their announcement and Formation’s announcement all coming within minutes of each other. As for BNP Paribas, they are without a doubt one of the EU’s strongest banks (which is somewhat relative to any bank these days). If they’ve taken a larger haircut than required, it helps indicate what others are going to have to do.

When Mario Draghi said that Members of the EU must be resposible for their financial affairs and actions, he sounds like the “Missing Capitalist”. I think it is also a strong statement that re-inforces the notion that there will not be a political union to facillitate the ECB to expand its “money-printing” bailout capabilities. It looks like the US Fed is the only institution left that can print to the extent necessary to hold it all together? Highest Regards for all you do!

greece is playing games with everyone. I bought some Kinross today was i smart???

Italy has agreed to have the IMF and the EU monitor its progress in meeting on pension, labour and structural reforms that were agreed with EU leaders last week.
A senior EU source said Italy had no problem with monitoring and added that the EU Commission and IMF would each report on how Italy was meeting its targets.
He said a precautionary credit line was not seen to be a credible option for Italy, where one of the main problems has been market confidence in its plans.
“With the general climate and Italy’s lack of credibility, every small setback or problem is compounded and makes things worse, so the markets cannot have confidence,” he said.
While it had been agreed the EU’s executive would step up monitoring of Rome, leaders have decided to bring in the IMF to increase the credibility of the surveillance and reassure the markets.

Above RTE news 11:14 am 4 nov.

Two aid ships, one Irish and one Canadian, bound for Gaza have been contacted by the Israeli navy.
As the MV Saoirse and the Canadian Tahrir began the final stage of their voyage to Gaza, they were contacted by the navy just before 11am at some 50 nautical miles from the shore.
“At 10.58 am (Irish time) we received an urgent call from Dr Fintan Lane, National Coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza aboard the MV Saoirse, to say that two Israeli ships are rapidly approaching the Irish and Canadian boats,” organisers of the Irish boat said in a statement.
The first radio contact was made some 15 minutes later, when the two vessels were 48 nautical miles from the shore, it said.
Shortly afterwards, the Canadians also confirmed radio contact had been made, in a posting on Twitter. “Israeli war ship: ‘What is Tahrir’s final destination?’ Our response: ‘The betterment of mankind’,” they wrote.
The Israeli military confirmed they had made radio contact with both vessels, telling them they were about to enter an area “under a maritime security blockade.”
“The Israel navy advised the vessels that they may turn back at any point, thereby not breaking the maritime security blockade, or sailing to a port in Egypt or the port of Ashdod” in southern Israel, a statement said.
“The activists refused to cooperate,” it added.
Shortly afterwards, organisers of the Canadian boat said they had lost contact with the Tahrir. “Communications may have been jammed by Israeli military,” they tweeted.
The last time a boat tried to reach Gaza was in July when a French-flagged yacht, the last remaining boat of an earlier flotilla, was intercepted by the Israeli navy some 40 nautical miles off the coast.
The Irish boat is carrying 15 passengers and crew members, while the Canadian boat has 12 people on board, five of them journalists, and is carrying medical aid and letters of solidarity, organisers said.
Yesterday, Israeli warships came within six nautical miles of the two vessels, and Israeli spotter planes were observed overhead, said Fintan Lane, a coordinator of the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign.
But fears of an overnight boarding did not materialise.
Activists organised a major attempt to break the Israeli blockade in May 2010, when six ships led by the Turkish Mavi Marmara tried to reach Gaza.
Israeli troops stormed the Marmara, killing nine Turkish activists and sparked a diplomatic crisis with Ankara, which expelled the Israeli ambassador and has cut military ties with the Jewish state.
Earlier this year, a second flotilla tried to reach Gaza, but several ships were sabotaged — which activists blamed on Israel.
Only the French-flagged yacht, the Dignity, was able to attempt the last leg of the journey but was stopped by the navy and those on board were deported.
Israel says its blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from entering the coastal territory, which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.
Two months ago, a UN report on the flotilla raid accused the Jewish state of acting with “excessive force” but found that its naval blockade on the coastal territory was legal.

Above RTE news 13:00 4 nov.