15/5/2013: Italy v Spain in Big 4's Sickest Economy contest

More unpleasant stuff from the Euro zone. Headlines in the morning today:

• Italian banks suffer the worst credit crunch in their history with banks credit down 2.12% in March 2013 y/y, according to the Italian Banking Association (ABI);
• Meanwhile, bad loans have reached €64.3bn in March, rising by 4.3% y/y and by 33% m/m. 
• Italian banks loans to households and non-financial companies dropped 3.1% in March y/y, falling to €1.46bn. 
• Italian industrial production fell 5.2% in March y/y, the worst figure in the Eurozone’ Big 4 economies. Industrial production was down 1.5% in Germany in March and 1.6% in France.
• The Italian housing market activity its now at lowest level since 1985. Last year 448,364 properties were sold, or 27.5% fewer than in 2011 and only 18,000 ahead of 1985 sales. 

It looks like Italy is going head on into competing with Spain for the title of the Big 4's sickest economy.

5/5/2013: Things are going according to plan... in Italy & Germany

That euro area 'policy' for dealing with the crisis is working marvelously, yeah?

Source: Euromoney Country Risk
Note: lower ECR score = higher sovereign credit risk

Yes, Italy's bonds are trading at much lower yields, and the country is issuing new debt at lower costs... but how much of that has to do with something / anything that Italian Government has done, as opposed to the overall shifts in markets sentiment / liquidity flows, who knows? One thing is for sure, absent yields changes, Italian fundamentals are getting worse, not better. Ditto, between, for all other 'peripherals'.