May 2009

Marshall Auerback here with a few thoughts about the monetary policy end game. Bernanke has to continue to make hawkish comments about inflation so as to avoid a complete blow out in bond yields, but the the dirty little secret is…

The Employment Situation Summary for April was released today by the U.S. Department of Labor and the headline data was right in line with estimates.  The unemployment rate came in at 8.9%, up from 8.5% in March. Job losses for April were…

In the CNBC video below, Ken Lewis defends his company’s performance on the stress test and answers some pointed questions in the John Thain – Ben Bernanke – Ken Lewis – Hank Paulson he said she said match.  He also details how Bank of…

Did Chrysler Secured Lenders Get a Raw Deal? - Yves Smith This is a VERY good synopsis of some of the issues surrounding the Chrysler bankruptcy. Definitely worth the read. RBS Posts Loss on $7.4 Billion Bad Loans, Writedowns -…

In less than 30 minutes, the U.S. employment situation report is coming out. 600,000 job losses is the bogey with 8.9% as the unemployment rate.  Below, Bloomberg News talks about this.

Here is the CNBC video of the news (with a lot more at the end on the stress tests): And FT reports: Stephen Friedman, the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve has resigned from his post with immediate effect following his…

The ECB went aggressive today and a big way.  They were the last holdout in the move to quantitative easing (a.ka. printing money).  They have lowered rates to a record low 1.00% and issued a statement that the European Central…

This came to me in my inbox seconds ago: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila C. Bair today commented on the release of the results of the Capital Assessment Program. Chairman Bair said: "I want to…

Elizabeth Warren, the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel to oversee TARP, goes ballistic in this interview with the guys from Tech Ticker. She gets right to the heart of what is wrong with the banking industry.  You can tell she is…

UPDATE: These are the actual results: Ten of the 19 largest U.S. financial institutions will be required to raise a combined $75 billion in capital, as the U.S. government for the first time divided healthy banks from those which may…