June 2008

Last month I looked at the twenty cities in the Case-Shiller composite index to see how far back in time we had to travel to see equivalent prices in all of the twenty cities covered. Some markets saw slight upticks in prices in April,…

As Ireland faces a recession after a fifteen-year property boom, it has come to light that the government have been caught out and doesn't have the enough funds to support the economy now that the boom has gone bust. The Irish Independent…

This blurb comes from the Telegraph and is a cautionary tale of spreading sensitive information without authorization.   The station decided to delay reporting the popular anchor man’s death until his family had been contacted. Other…

These are the picks of the day according to an article about what international investor Marc Faber is looking at. Despite the article's bullish call on commodities, I know that Faber is on the record as saying that oil is due for a…

From the Case-Shiller PDF release today.Steep Declines in Home Prices Continued in April 2008 According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price IndicesNew York, June 24, 2008 - Data through April 2008, released today by Standard & Poor's…

I keep a bunch of articles on my blog's sidebar as a reminder of what was being said about the housing bubble, when and by whom. One article I omitted is from The Economist, warning of a 'global' housing bubble and illustrating…

Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Jen has said that it is the emerging market central banks, not the G-7 central banks who will be most tested by this bout of inflation that we are experiencing. His view of the implications of global…

I have been meaning to address the issue of State and local governments for some time, because during the boom they were flush with cash from property taxes. The obvious parallel is an expected shortfall during this downturn. One can…

This from the National Post.The note from Blackmont analyst Brad Smith followed news late on Friday that Moody's Investors Service had downgraded XL Capital Assurance. CIBC has exposure to XL Capital since the bond insurer provides it with…

Count me in the crowd of Civil Libertarians who are perplexed by Barack Obama's move to the center and rejection of basic civil liberties. He has come out in favor of a bill on wiretapping proposed by the Bush Administration that gives…