Morning Links: 2009-09-02

Light posting this morning.  But I may be back later this afternoon. Let’s see what markets do today. Right now, it’s not looking good as Europe and Asia sold off and U.S. futures point to a selloff stateside.

So, if you need a distraction, take a look at the Terrell Owens video at the bottom. Enjoy the links.

 

  • FT Alphaville – This bear is not for turning

    "Albert Edwards is back!…after 20 years of more or less permanent overvaluation of US equities, we saw just five months of under-pricing through the March trough. Do bursting global equity valuation bubbles really end like this? Of course they don’t."

  • Ford’s sales soar in US with ‘cash for clunkers’ incentive – Independent.ie

    Ford’s US sales rose 17pc in August, a second consecutive month of increases, bolstered by the US government’s "cash for clunkers" incentive programme, the automaker said yesterday.

  • 4 ‘zombie’ stocks better off dead – MSN Money

    Meltdown casualties Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GM and AIG soared in August, with tons of shares changing hands. But don’t be fooled; they’re worthless.

  • Skyfire Raises $5M More to Help You Watch Hulu on Your Phone – NYTimes.com

    This is a browser I used on Windows Mobile. I switched to Android and now use the native browser. Skyfire is very good though.

  • Allan H. Meltzer Stops Being an Economist and Becomes a… I Am Not Sure What…

    I don’t know what discipline Meltzer wants to join, but if he rejects those two goals he is certainly nothing that I can recognize. It starts badly, with what I can only call disingenuity:

  • Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini: Don’t Expect the U.S. and China to Form a ‘Strategic Alliance’ Anytime Soon – WSJ.com

    As much about geoplitics as about economics. Worth a read

  • Worst of slump yet to come, says economist – Times Online

    Hat tip Prieur du Plessis. “The economy is no longer in freefall and, as a result, there’s an enormous amount of complacency from politicians, in particular, about what will happen next. I believe politicians have given away the opportunity to restructure the banks and reconfigure the system.”

  • Economic View – An Echo Chamber of Boom and Bust – NYTimes.com

    the business cycle is tied to feedback loops involving speculative price movements and other economic activity — and to the talk that these movements incite.

  • Imprisoned Journalists: We Were Violently Dragged to North Korea

    This is a small part of a lengthy statement released a few hours ago by Laura Ling and Euna Lee since they were released from North Korea prison. It’s their first statement since their ordeal, and although they leave out many details, it’s still gut-wrenching.

  • BP makes ‘giant’ oil strike in Gulf of Mexico – Telegraph

    BP has announced a "giant" deepwater oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico that could potentially boost its production in the area by 50pc.

  • No Such Thing As Ethnic Groups, Genetically Speaking, Researchers Say

    Central Asian ethnic groups are more defined by societal rules than ancestry. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genetics found that overall there are more genetic differences within ethnic groups than between them, indicating that separate ‘ethnic groups’ exist in the mind more than the blood.

  • CNN Poll: Independents disapprove of Obama – CNN.com

    A majority of independent voters disapprove of how Barack Obama’s handling his job as president, according to a new national poll.

  • Big four banks capture home loan market – smh.co.au

    The nation’s big four banks are now writing virtually every new mortgage in Australia, reigniting fears that more than two decades of competition has been unwound and major lenders will emerge from the economic downturn with too much power.

  • Wells Fargo to Repay TARP Without Raising New Equity – Bloomberg.com

    Wells Fargo & Co. plans to repay the U.S. bank bailout program “shortly” without raising equity, a tactic that would protect the value of stakes held by investors including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

  • Chris Flowers: Checkmate for a Wall Street wizard?

    When Lehman, AIG, and Merrill Lynch were in crisis a year ago, Chris Flowers could be found at the scene. He survived the maelstrom – but now he has his own billion-dollar problems to worry about.

  • S&P Notices Mexican Math Doesn’t Add Up – Paul Kedrosky

    Oh look, the nice people at S&P are noticing that Mexico’s post-oil budgetary math doesn’t add up. Apparently if you develop an air pocket in something (oil) that represents 40% of your state’s income it could impact your credit rating. Whoa, there’s a shocker.

  • Next first lady feels affinity with Michelle Obama | The Japan Times Online

    Miyuki Hatoyama, set to become the next first lady of Japan, says her husband has been nicknamed "alien" because he is different from old-style politics, and she feels she and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama share a "sensibility."

  • Are mobile phones replacing laptops? – Telegraph

    Over the past decade mobiles have undergone another revolution. Phones are no longer just devices to make and receive calls and texts, they are also for checking emails, Facebook and Twitter as well as browsing the internet. News last week that Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, is to launch a new "super-smartphone" and start making mini-laptops, is the dawn of a third revolution, which could lead to a blurring of the lines between phones and laptops.

  • Petrobras Loses $7 Billion Value as Lula Seeks Stake – Bloomberg.com

    Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plans for the development of the country’s offshore oil fields stripped Petroleo Brasileiro SA investors of $7 billion in a day.

  • BofA Seeks to Repay a Portion of Bailout – WSJ.com

    The bank isn’t offering to repay all of its $45 billion in aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as several other banks have done. Instead, BofA is suggesting it could start with the $20 billion of additional aid supplied in January when the bank was hesitating to complete its takeover of loss-ridden Merrill.

  • Murder ‘followed Facebook change’

    A mother-of-four was murdered by her partner days after she changed her Facebook status from "married" to "single", a court has heard.

  • Forget Tobin tax: there is a better way to curb finance – Willem Buiter

    Economics teaches us that taxes and other public interventions to correct distortions and other market failures should be targeted directly at the distortion or failure in question. What distortion is a tax on financial transactions targeted at?

    Distraction of the Day: Terrell Owens (now no longer a member of the hated Dallas Cowboys)

  • financial newsfunnyvideoWillem Buiter