The Independent reports that consumers have slammed on the brakes as far as shopping is concerned. The story draws on survey data, and contradicts official retail sales, which showed a modest gain. However, the aggregate data includes petrol and food vendors, so the real change was probably negative. From the Independent: Retailers delivered their worst […]
Read more...Arctic ice ‘is at tipping point’ BBC Why did Truman drop the bomb? Mies Economics Blog Bell Labs Kills Fundamental Physics Research Wired Zoom airline collapses and halts all flights Times Online Sense and Reality on Energy Floyd Norris, New York Times Merrill losses wipe away longtime profits Financial Times Weasel Brokers Whine When Faced […]
Read more...Last year, we put America on Banana Republic watch, and sadly, things appear to be playing out as we feared: I’m certain you’re familiar with the expression “death wish.” I am beginning to wonder whether America has a banana republic wish. The country has been taking steps towards being a small-minded, elite-dominated, sham democracy. Mind […]
Read more...Reader Michael sent us a Credit Suisse Equities research report dated August 27 and called our attention to the section on China. Note that the analysts did some primary research to try to get a grip on the post-Olympics outlook. They expect a widespread, albeit not too severe, slowdown (click to enlarge, and yes, it […]
Read more...You can tell a long weekend in approaching in the US. Most of the interesting news tonight is from Asia, although in this case, via the Financial Times. Reader Matt D waxed eloquent in comments yesterday about FT reporter Krishna Guha, who provided insight into the Fed staff’s reading of the tealeaves, which was more […]
Read more...Bondage Lovers Happier, Less Anxious Asylum (hat tip Megan McArdle). Most people do look better in black latex…. Rottweiler fights dog to save boy BBC Credit crunch: ‘It’s just the end of the beginning’ Sean O’Grady, The Independent Ripping off two charts – Moodys mid year residential mortgage backed security performance update John Hempton Lehman […]
Read more...Although one robin does not make a spring, the increased reluctance of Japanese retail and institutional investors to hold GSE debt is worrisome. Bloomberg reports that Japanese retail and institutional investors are unloading foreign debt due to currency volatility and are particularly leery of Fannie and Freddie securities. Admittedly, as Brad Setser has pointed out […]
Read more...Reader Michael forwarded the current issue of The Energy Report by Phil Flynn at Alaron. It contends that demand destruction is proceeding at a rapid pace. It also highlights an issue discussed in a recent research report by Deutsche Bank, that energy demand forecasts by recognized bodies such as the EIA have been high, and […]
Read more...Bloomberg reports that today’s sale of $3 billion of GSE debt went well, which investors took as a sign that a GSE crisis is not imminent. However, even this striving-to-be-upbeat article had some threads that bode ill for the longer term. And DealBreaker pointed out earlier this week that there is a profitable arbitrage on […]
Read more...A very useful post comes from Robert Dekle, Jonathan Eaton, and Samuel S. Kortum at VoxEU. The authors steer clear of the “when will global imbalances end” question (as in when will China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Gulf States tire of funding our current account deficit) to focus on one at least as important: “what […]
Read more...Anyone who has ever worked in a large organization knows that the underlings are frequently overruled by the higher-ups. The Federal Reserve is apparently no different. A piece in today’s Financial Times, “Fed minutes bearish on growth,” reports that Fed staffers foresee continuing economic weakness, which in turn made them more sanguine about inflation than […]
Read more...The Chai Story. If you own a dog, you MUST read this, immediately. Python kills Venezuelan zookeeper BBC New Evidence Debunks ‘Stupid’ Neanderthal Myth ScienceDaily Rumor: Apple telling retailers not to order more inventory Ars Technica Why I had to recognise Georgia’s breakaway regions Dmitry Medvedev Financial Times and Russia Never Wanted a War Mikhail […]
Read more...Bernanke, and now the entire FOMC, keep wanting things to be better than they are. Remember last year, when the cognoscenti were aghast when the Fed chairman forecast that losses from the subprime debacle would be a mere $50 billion (at that point, the lowest private sector estimate was $100 billion) and fell in with […]
Read more...Banks in the UK have retreated from residential mortgages with considerable speed. Even though the falloff in July vs. June was not dramatic, home lending is a such a low level that any further decline is not welcome. The Independent did not try to put lipstick on this pig, although a few sources did attempt […]
Read more...If you had any doubt that China would remain unaffected by the global slowdown, that should be put to rest by various stories discussing that the Chinese government is mulling a stimulus package. Yes, you could argue that the economy might need a tap on the gas pedal to compensate for all the factory closings […]
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