July 2008

Further evidence that the housing slump has spilled over into the real economy in Ireland comes from Irish unemployment numbers today, up the most in 41 years of data. Ireland looks to be one of the hardest hit countries in Europe. In all…

Bank losses shame disgruntled Swiss - BBC NewsStarbucks cuts 1,000 jobs, COO post and retreats from Australia - National PostSantander revenues rise 16% - FTAustralia faces worse crisis than America - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,…

The Case Shiller Index is out again and a number of areas are looking a bit better including Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, and Dallas. Overall, it seems the acceleration in house price falls has come to an end.…

I am on record for expecting a drop in oil prices in the very near future due to demand destruction. Regarding the super spike, I believe much of the end rally in oil prices had little to do with fundamentals and everything to do with…

Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski says that Goldman Sachs is looking to buy a deposit-taking bank to avoid the liquidity problems that were Bear's downfall and may now hit Merrill Lynch itself. Goldman’s chief financial officer, David…

Hank Paulson, the U.S. Treasury Secretary has decided that the German Covered Bond is a solution to many of the woes of the U.S. housing market meltdown. He is backed by four large U.S. banks: Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase…

"I am officially scared. In 2000, we had a technology bubble. But this is massive, a massive credit crisis and a bubble in global housing, global equity and global land." -Jeremy Grantham as quoted by Chicago Tribune

Last week, we heard that Australia's NAB had to take a massive writedown due to American CDO exposure (apparently triggered by Merrill Lynch). Yesterday, we heard about Australia's ANZ Bank taking it on the chin to the tune of $1.2 million…

Japan Jobless Rate Rises to 4.1%, Highest Since 2006 - BloombergPlan to revive mortgage lending - BBC News (Is an American-style bailout in the offing in the UK?)Merrill's $5.7B Write-Down, $8.5B Share Issuance - Big Picture (interesting…

In further proof that we're back to the Great Depression again, everyone is talking about unsecured bank deposits. Basically, if you have less than $100K at an FDIC institution, you're good to go. If you have more, you'll need to spread…