April 2009

I am still away on Holiday in Mexico but have been checking the news and was not surprised to learn about the recent Wells Fargo announcement. I am coming off the fence here and looking for a bullish outcome on financial services. The…

This comes from Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman: China appears to be an offensive of sorts. The governor of the PBOC proposed evolving the SDR as an alternative reserve asset. China has announced CNY60 bln of swap lines with a…

Europe is a mess right now. I have had a few days to relax and work trough some thoughts about where this global depression is headed. Upon coming back to the site, I was struck by how poorly Europe's economies are doing. As I have said…

The first time I wrote about the Baltics was back in August in a post entitled, "Are the Baltics the new Argentina?." Since then, things have gotten progressively worse and the Baltics are clearly in Depression with Latvia leading the way…

Despite the fact that I can envisage a cyclical upturn this Winter, the menace of bank writedowns is ever-present. One analyst who has been particularly prescient on warning on this front is Mike Mayo, now working at Calyon. Below David…

As I am away, I thought I would let my blogger brethren do the talking for me. Enjoy. Sign of strength or evidence of weakness? China’s dollar reserves - Brad Setser A Tale of Two Depressions - Vox IMF recommended euroisation to…

William Black on Bill Moyers - Paul Kedrosky Canadian Banks: A better system - National Post I'm sure Marshall loves this one Wall Street Back To Its Criminal Ways? - Tyler Durden Interesting take Life expectancy to fall as living…

I have a ton of links today, so I have broken then out into sections. See the news feed for other stories. Finance Inside Obama's bank CEOs meeting - Eamon Javers - POLITICO.com “My administration,” the president added, “is the only…

Because of changes in the way the unemployment rate is calculated, the figures today are apple to oranges comparisons to the ones quoted for the Great Depression or even the 1970s. Further, changes in the economy (less manufacturing) and…

Update: 3 Apr 2009: I have been getting more positive about the possibility of a cyclical upturn before 2009 is over (what I like to call a fake recovery). Meanwhile, the punderati are seeing black when they should be seeing shades of…