News Tidbits: 6 Aug 2008

New Zealand ‘enters recession’ – BBC News (Add New Zealand to Denmark which is already in recession)

UK pensions are ‘back in the red’ – BBC News (I haven’t focused nearly enough on this issue. It never really went away. The bear market ally of 2003-2007 made it seem so.)

GDP cut holds up German recovery – FT (The Eurozone will be in recession soon)

Nudging Gordon Out – First Drafts (Interesting article on the potential power struggle within Labour in the UK)

Toyota cuts 800 jobs after Lexus sales slide – FT (Even Lexus has to cut jobs? sheesh.)

Storm Clouds Continue To Darken Over Spain – Euro Watch (Spain is headed for recession)

Oil sell-off continues, pushing the price below $120 a barrel – LA Times (We’re well on our way to $100)

End of financial triumphalism? – Kenneth Rogoff, Guardian (great article about market and regulation)

Services side of economy barely contracting – MarketWatch (This might mean a negative number for Q3 GDP in the US)

Canadian Dollar Drops to Year Low as Commodities Prices Fall – Bloomberg (Is the Canadian boom well and truly over?)

Citigroup Posts Loss on Credit-Card Securitizations – Bloomberg (Watch this. This will be a big problem going forward)

Housing slide has shown just how untogether Northern Rock was – Telegraph (This is a story I’ll have to blog on when I get back from holiday. Northern Rock had a loan book that is MUCH worse than suspected)

Bags Filled With Sand Still Most Advanced U.S. Anti-Flood Technology – The Onion

Europe’s junk bond market in deep freeze – Telegraph (This is a market near and dear to my heart as used to work in it. One whole year without a new issue is cataclysmic)