2010

by Win Thin Hungary is perhaps taking a more obvious approach to influencing monetary policy than Brazil, as ruling Fidesz party has reportedly submitted an amendment to the Central Bank Act that would give the cabinet sole control of…

Here's a great graphic on the Irish bailout, quantifying the exposure of foreign banks to Ireland as well as the pots of money from which the 85 billion euros for the Irish bailout is coming. My understanding about the ' funds which Ireland…

by Win Thin Details of Ireland’s four-year budget plan are emerging and it contains the expected mix of spending cuts and tax hikes that is needed to get IMF/EU aid.  Ireland did not bow to outside pressure to hike the corporate tax…

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee met in secret by videoconference on October 15th to hash out policy issues ahead of the official November 2-3. The most extraordinary development at that meeting was discussion around whether the…

Highlights The US dollar is mostly lower, giving back most of yesterday’s gains versus the dollar bloc but still up versus the euro amid concerns over the European financial crisis. The euro suffered against a backdrop of protracted euro…

Dan Alpert, managing partner at Westwood Capital, thinks that banks are under-reserving and that this will come back to haunt them when house prices fall in "the final leg down" of the housing crisis.  That is the right view…

by Annaly Capital Management The title of this piece is strange but true. The FDIC released its Quarterly Banking Profile for the 3rd quarter of 2010 this morning, trumpeting $14.5 billion in profits (up from only $2 billion in the year…

I was eavesdropping on a conversation about Credit Writedowns on another blog (Pragmatic Capitalism) and wanted to share some of my thoughts with you on the conversation. One commenter, Mattay said: Harrison is an MMTer. As I read him,…

By Vedran Vuk With consumer prices in China up 4.4% this October over last year, the country has taken another move to avert inflation: price controls. There’s just one problem. Thirty years ago this would have been a viable policy…

Ireland Honohan Says ‘Relaxed’ About Foreign Ownership in Irish Banks - Bloomberg Ireland hangs 'For Sale' sign on banks - National Post Foreign-owned banks: Implications for New Zealand's financial stability (PDF Apr 2002) –…