Category Archives: Credit markets

Coronavirus Means Zero Hour for the European Union

Germany’s long-standing practice of muscling the European Union to serve its own ends now risks dissolution and a banking system crisis.

The Fed Backfires: Shock and Awe Rate Drop to 0%, Emergency Bond Buying Program Leads to Limit Down Drops in US Equity Futures as Real World Coronavirus Damage Worsens

The Fed just told everyone to assume the brace position.

How the COVID-19 Shock Is Different

Looking at COIVD-19 impacts.

After Bloody Day, Coronavirus Meltdown Continues. Big Danger: Italian and Eurobanks Are Set To Blow

So many coronavirus panics that a looming risk is getting little notice: implosion of Italy’s banks, a potential Credit Anstalt event.

Oil Price Crash: 50% Of U.S. Shale Could Go Bankrupt

Yesterday’s oil price downdraft, if not meaningfully reversed, will create a world of hurt among US producers, most of all shale gas players.

Mr. Market Loses It Over Coronavirus Risk: Oil Tanks, S&P Futures Trades Halted on Limit Down Overnight, Gold Jumps

Coronavirus infects Mr. Market.

Coronavirus: Bracing for the Economic Shockwave

The coronavirus spread is setting up a nasty real economy-financial system contraction.

Wolf Richter: Subprime Credit Card Delinquencies Spike to Record High, Past Financial-Crisis Peak, as Other Consumers Relish the Good Times. Why?

The concern is not for banks or investors in subprime-credit-card backed securities. But what does this bifurcation tell us about consumers?

Foreign Exchange Swaps: Hidden Debt, Lurking Vulnerability

How hidden foreign exchange swaps contribute to financial fragility.

Subprime Auto Loans Explode, “Serious Delinquencies” Spike to Record. But There’s No Jobs Crisis, These Are the Good Times

Nearly a quarter of all subprime auto loans are 90+ days delinquent. Why?

Coronavirus: Australia Faces Calamity

Identifying likely economic road kill from the coronavirus outbreak.

Do Davos Billionaires and Bankers Really Believe Booms and Busts Are Over Because They’ve Trained the Fed?

Fed tightening is no longer needed to create recessions, given fragile credit structures and a growing pandemic out of China.

Michael Hudson on the History of Debt Cancellation, Austerity in Europe, January 2020

Michael Husdon reviews the key themes of his recent book, ……and Forgive Them Their Debts, and discusses German austerity.

Debt Has Not Been Caused by Low Interest Rates, but Higher Rates Would Topple the Whole World Economy

Yet more official hand-wringing about interest rates…when they aren’t the core economic problem.

Student Loans, Meet Greece: Extend and Pretend Bond Maturities

Shed a crocodile tear for investors in student loans: they are sometimes discomfited by short-lived downgrades when loan maturities are pushed out.