Links: 2008-10-31 [del.icio.us]

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• Many Homeowners Think They’re Immune to Price Declines – Real Time Economics“We’re seeing a fascinating distinction in consumer psychology — on the one hand, homeowners appear to understand the reality of today’s economy and are curbing their household spending, but on the other hand they still arent ready to admit that these woes might extend to their own homes,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow vice president of data and analytics. “There’s clearly still some denial.”
• RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000 – PC WorldThe BlackBerry Bold 9000, Research in Motion’s formidable contender in the 3G market, has finally arrived.
• How Long Does it take for an Home Computer to Break your Password – Digital InspirationIf you like to know how long will it take for an average home computer to guess your password, try the Hackosis calculator. Just type in the count of various characters (lowercase, uppercase, numbers, etc.) and the tool will give you a time estimate.
• Spain on brink of recession as GDP shrinks – FTSpanish economic output contracted 0.2% in the third quarter from the previous three months and slowed 0.9% year-on-year, according to provisional data that suggested the country is on the brink of recession
• U.S. consumers’ mood posts record drop – ReutersNEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumer confidence suffered its steepest monthly drop on record in October, a survey showed on Friday, as the worst financial crisis in generations continued to take its toll.
• Blogonomics: The Cost-Benefit of Bloggers – Felix SalmonIf you are going to invest in your own editorial content, bloggers are often a very smart way to go. They’re lean, since they need very little editing and often work from home. They build a reliable readership: in a world where loyal readers are defined as those who visit five times a month or more, blogs often get readers coming back more than once a day.
• Volkswagen Says `Worst May Be Yet to Come’ for China Car Market – BloombergOct. 31 (Bloomberg) — Volkswagen AG, the biggest overseas carmaker in China, said the “worst may be yet to come” for the country’s auto market after industrywide sales dropped for the first time in three years.
• Mirable Dictu! Wall Street May Start to Rein in Compensation – Yves SmithJohn Whitehead, former co-chairman of Goldman, who with John Weinberg, presided over the firm when it went from being a commercial paper dealer and institutional equity broker to a top investment bank, decried Wall Street compensation levels in a Bloomberg interview.
• New Mortgage Recuse Proposal to Kick Can Down the Road a Few Years – Yves Smith
• Referendum on Trickle-Down – E.J. Dionne, Washington PostFor all of the McCain campaign’s relentless use of guilt-by-association techniques, the 2008 campaign is concluding on a remarkably substantive argument. It is a debate about what constitutes social fairness and whether a top-down or a bottom-up approach to economic growth will define the country’s future.
• Naomi Klein: The Bush gang’s parting gift – a final, frantic looting of public wealthIf you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. “How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?”
• ECB cash helps banks regain confidence as Euribor rates are cut – Irish InependentEuribor, the euro rate that banks charge each other for three-month loans, fell more than 3 basis points to 4.79pc, the lowest level since last April, according to the European Banking Federation.
• Our banks need to be recapitalised at once, says top businessman – Irish IndependentSenior Irish businessman Philip Lynch said Irish banks “need to be recapitalised immediately” so they can begin lending again and shore up the economy, which has fallen into recession.
• Motorola cuts 3,000 jobs and delays spin-off – FTMotorola is cutting 3,000 jobs and delaying the spin-off of its loss-making mobile phone business after suffering a $397m loss in the third quarter amid a dramatic fall in handset sales
• Australia, New Zealand Dollars Set for Worst Month Since 1980s – BloombergOct. 31 (Bloomberg) — The Australian and New Zealand dollars were set for the biggest monthly declines since the mid- 1980s after concern the global economy will slip into recession prompted investors to dump the nations’ higher-yielding assets.
• Tenneco to Eliminate 1,100 Jobs, Close Four Factories – BloombergOct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Tenneco Inc., the world’s largest maker of automobile exhaust systems, said it will cut 1,100 jobs and close four North American plants and an engineering center in Australia to reduce costs.
• Pension fund gap hits $100bn – FTU.S. companies will need to inject more than $100bn into their pension funds to cover market losses, putting them in a cash squeeze at a time when it is difficult to raise money.
• Seumas Milne: U.S. elections – those who want real change will have to fight to get it – GuardianWe’ve got so used to the idea, it’s easy to discount it. But if Barack Obama is elected U.S. president on Tuesday, the symbolic impact at least can hardly be overestimated.
• UK consumer confidence worst in 34 years – Irish IndependentU.K. consumer confidence dropped in October close to the weakest level since at least 1974 as the financial crisis spooked British shoppers, GfK NOP said.
• ECB lending surges to record $1 trillion for second day running – Irish IndependentThe European Central Bank’s lending to financial institutions surged to a record, breaching the $1 trillion mark for a second day, after it pumped extra cash into the banking system to ease a funding gridlock.
• Mortgage lending growth at 22 year low – Irish IndependentIrish mortgage lending advanced at the slowest pace in 22 years in September as falling house prices deterred buyers and the credit crunch restricted access to funds.
• GM, Chrysler merger on hold as aid hopes fade: sources – ReutersNEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) – A deal to merge General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC has hit an impasse after the Bush administration ruled out funding for it, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.
• Oil sinks towards $63, set for record monthly slide – ReutersLONDON (Reuters) – Oil fell more than $2 to below $64 a barrel on Friday and in line with other markets was on track to post its biggest monthly fall yet.
• Rate cut from Japan, Barclays seeks funding – ReutersLONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan cut interest rates for the first time in seven years on Friday, expecting severe stress in the global economy to persist, while UK banking giant Barclays said it was raising $12 billion in capital.
• We’re All Bankers Now. So Why’s the A.T.M. Still Charging Us $2? – Deal BookAccording to the back of the envelope calculations of The New York Times’s Clyde Haberman, each taxpayer in this country has a $1,785.71 ownership share in the banks of America. This figure is based on the $250 billion that the Treasury Department is investing in banks to prod them to start lending again.
• Eurozone inflation falls to 3.2% – BBC NewsInflation across the 15 nations that share the euro fell to 3.2% last month, data shows,