The run-up to Christmas sales levels in the US failed to meet low expectations. Now retailers are hoping for a wee bit of salvation in after-Christmas clearance. From Bloomberg: Cutbacks on clothing, electronics and jewelry led U.S. retail sales to drop as much as 4 percent this holiday season as consumers limited purchases to necessities, […]
Read more...Sexy objects stimulate our brain Roland Piquepaille Home-Mortgage Rate Hits 5.14% Wall Street Journal Barack Be Good Paul Krugman, New York Times “Stuff Happens”: the Bush Administration’s Economic Stewardship Menzie Chinn, Econbrowser A Satire-Free Day? No Thanks… Cassandra Air-Pocket Watch: November Hotel Occupancy Paul Kedrosky Antidote du jour (hat tip reader Don):
Read more...Since I am endeavoring to spend some time with my family, forgive me for dispatching this New York Times story, “Dollar Shift: Chinese Pockets Filled as Americans’ Emptied.” The article buys, hook, line and sinker, then- Fed-governor Ben Bernanke’s depiction of so-called global imbalances (the US borrowing from abroad to fund overconsumption; Japan, China, Taiwan, […]
Read more...Happy Holidays to all! Our Unconscious Brain Makes The Best Decisions Possible PhysOrg What Parrots Tell us About the Origin and Evolution of Birds ScienceBlogs The fallen giants of finance Financial Times. A very nice interactive feature. Market for Corporate Jets Goes Into Free-Fall New York Times South Asia descends into terror’s vortex Asia Times. […]
Read more...Best holiday wishes to all, and thanks to readers for your continued interest and insightful comments. In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d post my favorite news item of the year almost past and encourage members of the commentariat (to use one reader’s coinage) to provide theirs. The post below originally ran in […]
Read more...A not-so-bad Black Friday led retailers to hope that the Christmas selling season might not be as awful as feared. Unfortunately, sales appeared to have petered out in the typically busy last few selling days, in part due to rotten weather in the northern part of the country. From Bloomberg: U.S. retail store traffic fell […]
Read more...Orangutans learn to trade favours BBC Sport Meets Survival: An Iditarod Without Dogs New York Times Madoff, MLK, Buddha And Elusive Nature of Self-Interest Francine McKenna Can parochial concerns undermine the global adjustment? It has before Michael Pettis (hat tip reader Michael) Iceland gives Christmas frosty reception Financial Times Ruling says Madoff investors must pay […]
Read more...Literature is rife with quotes and vignettes illustrating the gulf between the rich and everyone else. And those quips generally take class differences as a given. Far more interesting and corrosive are the anecdotes that seek to get the public to accept status differences when the basis for them is shaky indeed. One of my […]
Read more...In part because the Japanese corporate bond market is no where near as deep and large as its US counterpart, Japanese rating agencies hold far less sway than Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. Nevertheless, the idea that Japan should write down its vast holdings of Treasuries and support US infrastructure spending (albeit with a few […]
Read more...I am now wondering if Google censors posts (I use Blogger), I put this post up at 1:33 AM, and even had a reader e-mail me that the post had disappeared (with no listing in “Recent Posts” which happens if I put up a post and then remove it). I have a record that it […]
Read more...Sorry few links to other blogs tonight, I am badly behind, with packing to get out of town AND having to reorganize stuff for painters! Pandas fly to Taiwan from China BBC Government buildings emit more CO2 than all of Kenya Guardian Blood from mosquito traps Finnish suspect AFP Buffeted “quants” are still in demand […]
Read more...Liquefied natural gas doesn’t get much attention in the US because in aggregate, it is not a significant energy source here, and imports were at a five-year low in 2008. But supply/demand conditions has shifted dramatically overseas. The combination of depressed LNG prices and cheap shipping means that excess LNG may show up in the […]
Read more...Mortgage applications are up sharply as homeowners try to take advantage of low 30 year fixed rates. But tighter lending standards means that a fair number will be disappointed. Moreover, the surge in mortgage applications is for refinances rather than new home purchases. And while refis will indirectly help the economy by increasing consumer discretionary […]
Read more...Proponents of mortgage modifications contend that the cost of even a deep principal reduction still puts the lender ahead of foreclosure, and experience in past real estate downturns would bear that contention out. So why is this time different? Data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency show that 55% of mortgage mods […]
Read more...Happiest Man in the World…?!? Cassandra Tiger moves away from state capital Times of India Oligarchs Seek $78 Billion as Credit Seizure Empowers Putin Bloomberg Federal Reserve balance sheet Jim Hamilton, Econbrowser Let us bend the rules, say organic farmers Times Online Archbishop of Canterbury warns recession Britain must learn lessons from Nazi Germany Telegraph […]
Read more...