News Round-Up: 24 Jul 2008

Politics
Survey finds oil bonanza in Arctic – National Post
A Short Primer on McCainomics Versus Obamanomics: Top-Down or Bottom-Up – Robert Reich
Bush drops opposition to housing bill – LA Times
McCain Credits Bush For Drop in Oil Price – WSJ
Berlusconi wins immunity from prosecution – FT
A Mortgage Rescue Strains Calculations – NY Times
Jim Bunning: Underperformer…or Visionary? – Financial Armageddon

Economy
States Face Threefold Increase In Budget Shortfall for 2009 – WSJ
Women’s jobs are more vulnerable in downturn, report says – MarketWatch
Moody’s Warns on Weakening Credit Quality – Housing Wire
Inflation Alarms Ring Out – WSJ($)
Mortgage Rates Near a Year High – WSJ
15 C.P.W.: a Bullish Sign, or a Bubbly One? – NY Times
Fed Report Says Economy Continued to Slow – NY Times
Record home losses in California – LA Times

Finance
Has the Commodity Bubble Popped? – Market Beat
Moral hazard misconception – Ricardo Caballero
New York to Launch Auction Rate Securities Suit Against UBS – naked capitalism
Strong rise in UK banking shares – BBC News
CIBC sued over subprime investments – National Post
Bank Investors Expect Less as Losses Mount – NY Times

Earnings
Strong Quarter for Sales at Amazon – NY Times
Pricing, Weaker Dollar Lift Philip Morris – NY Times

Emerging Markets
Peso power: Mexican currency nears six-year high vs. dollar – LA Times

Germany
Merkel warns of fall in economic growth – FT
EU droht USA mit Visumpflicht für Diplomaten – Handelsblatt
Der neue Stolz, Amerikaner zu sein – Handelsblatt
Banken droht noch mehr Kapitalbedarf – Financial Times Deutschland

Spain
Los activos de la banca española se deteriorarán por la situación económica – El Mundo
Solbes dice que lo importante no es el déficit del Estado sino que la deuda no aumente – El Mundo
El banco británico HBOS se dispara en Bolsa por los rumores de compra de BBVA – El Mundo
El Gobierno anunciará este jueves otro recorte de sus previsiones de crecimiento para 2008 – El Mundo
Estamos temblando con la siguiente revisión de la hipoteca – El Pais

Odds and Ends
Bert and Ernie: Rap Stars? – egghat
Student charged £800 for going 8p into the red – Times Online