April 2011

The Financial Times is reporting that China is attempting to address its wealth gap through a number of measures, the principal one of which is raising the tax exemption on income. As welcome as such a move is for consumers facing…

"Texas University Buys $1 Billion of Gold Bars" screamed the headlines in a steroid font. Talk of "new eras" and "turning points" for the gold market ran viral among the bugs' blogs. You could almost hear the metaphysical bell ring,…

This was the first 25 bp move in the current cycle and was less than expected, as market expectations had been for 50 bp earlier this month but swung more towards 25 bp this past week on more dovish signals from officials. Of 58 analysts…

We are seeing divergent inflation paths in Brazil and Mexico, and today’s mid-April data underscored this point.

Analyzing official China comments in order to make a currency call is a fool’s errand. However, suffice it to say that all of these comments suggest a reduced patience for the status quo and an increased willingness to recalibrate China FX…

By William K. Black cross-posted from New Economic Perspectives In the Savings and Loan (S&L) debacle Speaker Wright became enraged at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the Department of Justice when he learned that the FBI was…

I can no longer say that not a single senior executive of one of the major nonprime lenders whose frauds hyper-inflated the housing bubble and caused the Great Recession has been convicted of his frauds. A single senior executive of one of…

As usual, NMA has a pretty funny animated version of the latest business news. This time it's on the S&P ratings downgrade. Take a look.

By Win Thin Oil prices are lower today despite Saudi comments that it is cutting output because the market is oversupplied. Saudi Oil Minister al-Naimi said that his nation cut output to 8.29 bbl/day in March from 9.13 mln bbl/day in…

From the International Business Times and Andy Lees at UBS: Reports that central China's Hubei province has joined a growing list of regions facing coal shortages with a warning that it is very likely to start power rationing later this…