2008

According to the Telegraph, UK housing starts hit their lowest level in 63 years. With a lack of new business, how will Barrat's and Taylor Wimpey survive? The Telegraph suggests that investors will save them, much as they have saved the…

These two charts are interesting just for historical purposes. This tracks the FTSE All-share index from 1800-2007. While there were a number of peaks and valleys, the FTSE went pretty much nowhere until after World War II. At that…

Below is the inside scoop according to famed Washington insider Robert Novak (It remains to be seen whether his sources are reliable). At the bottom is a link to an article from the Telegraph quoting Morgan Stanley's economic team…

I was reading a report by the New York Times today, which outlined that Wall Street has earned half of what it earned last year because of massive credit losses. That's a pretty spectacular fall. What it actually got me thinking about was…

My greatest concern is deflation. Hence the title of my blog "Credit Writedowns." However, inflation is still a short-term threat to destabilizing the global economy. The recent floods in the heartland of America is not only tragic, but…

The world has experienced three periods of extreme financial dislocation in the past century, 1929, 1973, and 1990. Two of these have been deflationary. While most observers have their eyes firmly peeled on 1973 and its aftermath, 1929 and…

The following are the links regarding the global credit crunch that have been recently added to the Credit Crisis Timeline. The full timeline is accessible here 2008 06 05 MBIA, Ambac, $1 Trillion of Debt, Lose S&P AAA Rating2008 06 05…

The Financial Times' blog Alphaville is reporting today that those investors who ponied up for shares in financial institutions after the financials wrote down billions and needed additional capital - those investors - lost $10 billion!…

From the Telegraph:Irish right to craic the whip over EU treatyBy Liam HalliganLast Updated: 1:38am BST 15/06/2008Against the advice of the major political parties and most of the media, Irish voters have rejected the Lisbon Treaty. Good…

European banks are still in need of time or money to recapitalise their weak balance sheets. This has to be especially worrying for UK banks as they have raised a significant amount of capital and their housing market has yet to see the…