2011

The Chinese property market has come off the boil according to this video from NTD Television. The issues are reminiscent of the US subprime crisis in which developers, under the gun from a falling market, were forced to slash prices to…

Here’s a very informative chart via Morgan Stanley showing the deterioration in the Eurozone’s key credit indicators. Banks will no doubt sell assets, at least in part, as a way to meet their required capital targets.

Elizabeth Warren: ‘I Created Occupy Wall Street’ - The Daily Beast The Harvard professor has spooked the right. As she begins her high-profile Senate campaign against GOP star Scott Brown in Massachusetts, the consumer…

We got two good proxies for the economic trajectory in the US this morning at 830 AM. Jobless claims were 402,000 with the 4-week moving average now settling in at 405,500. GDP rose an annualized 2.5% in the third quarter according to the…

Markets’ initial reaction to the latest EU emergency summit has been positive. Risk assets are trading up, risk-sensitive currencies are up, European bank stocks are up, and the broader stock market is as well. This relief rally is…

Global stocks and risk sensitive currencies are up significantly after the 14th emergency summit. Outcome satisfied downbeat expectations, details remain short; price action reflects positioning. BoJ left rates on hold but expanded asset…

Watch the video. It plays Silvio Berlusconi’s encounter with Danish Premier Helle Thorning-Schmidt a second time in slow-motion so you can see where Berlusconi’s real priorities are.

We have highlighted in bold the important bits. (We now have an analysis of the deal. See "How the latest emergency euro summit addresses the sovereign debt crisis".) Note that while the statement says in point 12 that the notional…

According to the IMF, Iceland has graduated from its Fund-supported programme with unqualified success. This column begs to differ.

Poul Thomsen wrote an article on the IMF’s blog site about Iceland that I would to highlight. The lessons bear repeating given the economic problems in Europe and the US. The IMF worked with Iceland to stabilise the economy and avoid…