Japan Jobless Rate Rises to 4.1%, Highest Since 2006 – Bloomberg
Plan to revive mortgage lending – BBC News (Is an American-style bailout in the offing in the UK?)
Merrill’s $5.7B Write-Down, $8.5B Share Issuance – Big Picture (interesting take on writedowns at Merrill)
The Downfall of a California Dreamer – NY Times (good article on IndyMac)
South African Credit Growth Accelerates to 20.3% – Bloomberg (its not just the U.S. and Europe)
ANZ warns of drop in full-year earnings – FT (writedown pain spread to down under)
How Merrills dragged NAB into an $830m writedown – Crikey (hat tip Yves Smith)
Higher oil price boosts BP profit – BBC News
America’s house price time bomb – BBC News (negative equity like this won’t be solved by bailouts)
An Examination of WaMu – Russ Winter
Amid EU Expansion, Limited Migration – Real Time Economics (language barrier makes EU labor market migration tough)
IMF sees no end in sight to credit crisis – Sydney Morning Herald (note the real economy negative feedback loop I have warned of)
Einhorn Expects More Pain Before a Recovery – Deal Book (Is Einhorn talking his own book?)
Odds & Ends
Text messaging charge spurs class-action suit – National Post