Since the market meltdown ’round the world is pre-empting a lot of other programming, I thought we’d turn to other important topics. A study looking over 40 years led by UC Berkeley researchers concluded that first world environmental degradation of third-world countries cost them more, in aggregate, than their foreign debt. Indeed, the researchers argue […]
Read more...Feeling Misled on Home Price, Buyers Are Suing Their Agent New York Times Tide of Lawsuits Approaches Troubled US Mortgage Market International Herald Tribune (hat tip Michael Panzner) M&A’s Apocalypse Now? Deal Journal, Wall Street Journal NYSE Circuit Breaker Rules. Just to refresh your memory. Bank of China: Subprime Writedowns 6x Forecast Paul Kedrosky
Read more...Many in the security and public policy arena implicitly and often explicitly argue that greater security requires that we give up some, or a lot, of our privacy. Yes, it is necessary and a good thing that we have to take off our shoes to board an airplane. In Ars Technica, Jon Stokes says that […]
Read more...Another very bad open, and no reason to expect much improvement. From the related Bloomberg story: Japan’s stocks plunged, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average set for its worst two-day drop in more than a decade. The yen strengthened while commodities prices and European shares plunged, adding to concern world economic growth is faltering. Honda […]
Read more...This article by the Financial Times’ Wolfgang Munchau argues that the slowdown starting in the US is likely to be long lived. The main reason? Interest rate cuts are much less effective when the financial sector is impaired. The grim action in global stock markets lats night says there is some agreement with Munchau’s reading. […]
Read more...A bit late to this item due to the holiday. Bond insurer ACA, which was in breach of its collateral requirements last week and therefore en route to being liquidated, received a stay of execution from teh Maryland insurance regulator, which gave the company until February 19 to wind down existing credit default swap contracts. […]
Read more...Some readers go ballistic when I suggest that tougher credit markets regulation is an important and not sufficiently considered part of the remedy to our current economic woes. In their eyes, regulation is always and ever a bad thing. John Coffee, Columbia Law professor and long standing expert in the securities industry, tells us that […]
Read more...Brad Setser and Tony Jackson both comment today on the seemingly inexorable rise of foreigner investors in the US, particularly to shore up foundering financial institutions. Setser’s piece is much broader and also synthesizes and comments on recent hand-wringing in the media, so it gets pride of place. However, Jackson’s observation about the maybe-not-so-hot prospects […]
Read more...UAE set to launch nuclear programme Financial Times. Hhhm, they’d rather build nuclear plants than use their own oil. Think there might be a lesson in that? Promoters versus parasites : Art dealers, auction houses, and the contested potential of art as an investment Olav Velthuis (hat tip jck at Alea). Suppliers pushed on their […]
Read more...Normally I don’t go for intra-day fever charts, and the Nikkei was down considerably on Friday before rallying and winding up in positive territory. Nevertheless, the current state of play gives cause for pause: Update 3:00 AM. Yikes: That’s down nearly 4%. Back to the original post: The related Bloomberg story attributes the decline to […]
Read more...Mere mortal investors and their professional colleagues are (at least if they are honest and have a modicum of sense) a bit confounded as to what to do at this juncture. By all measures, inflationary pressures are gaining strength, and yet recessions lower aggregate demand and with it, price pressures. Ah, but what about the […]
Read more...Doing a bit of weekend catch-up, and this news item on Saudi reserves, or more accurately, lack thereof seemed to miss the attention it deserved with the market upheavals, Bernanke testimony before Congress, and stimulus plan announcements. A quick review: one of the arguments the peak oil types, Matthew Simmonds in particular, is that the […]
Read more...One thing that market mavens will tell you is that any measures of investment sentiment need to be read with considerable care. For instance, high short interest is considered bullish. Why? If stocks move upwards (and remember, just due to daily noise, stocks move around quite a bit), shorts will have to buy stocks if […]
Read more...Scientists Invent Robots That Lie Gizmodo Don’t fear China’s success – fear its failure Telegraph Weekend Special: Financial Poetry by Popular Demand Macro Man How the Middle Class is Doing – Applying the Perspective of the Right to the Soviet Union in the 1930s Cactus, Angry Bear Between Life and Death, Bankruptcy Style Elizabeth Warren, […]
Read more...Although a good deal can happen between now and January 31, the date of the next Fed Open Markets Committee meeting, a 50 basis point rate cut looks more consistent with present economic conditions than do deeper cuts. Most important (and widely ignored) is that the seize-up the money markets is largely a thing of […]
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