Bailout of Italy on Tap; ECB to Become Buyer of "Only" Resort; Expect Failure of Thursday's Italian Bond Auction; Who Will Bail Out the ECB?

"A critical Italian government bond auction is coming up Thursday, August 4. That bond auction is highly likely to fail. However, if it does fail, don't expect results to be reported that way.

The chief economist at Citigroup says ECB to Revive Bond-Buying to Protect Italian Auction This Week

Former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter said the European Central Bank will revive its bond-buying program to safeguard this week’s auction of Italian bonds.

“The ECB will intervene on whatever scale is necessary to allow Italy to conduct its auction on Thursday,” Buiter, now chief economist at Citigroup Inc., told reporters in London today. “If the ECB doesn’t come in, the Italian bond auction is likely to fail..."

at  http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/08/bailout-of-italy-on-tap-ecb-to-become.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29