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Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

Economy

Transferring Swedish bank risk onto Latvian taxpayers

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

This is my translation of an article from Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish daily. Swedish banks are planning to write down Latvian personal loans by 10 percent. However, the proposal includes only a small part of the Latvia’s mountain of debt.…

Political Economy

Who is the Rio executive arrested by the Chinese?

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

This comes via the Sydney Morning Herald: A year ago, after Stern Hu had survived 20-odd rounds of negotiations and won Rio Tinto and Australia an extraordinary 87 per cent price increase for its iron ore contracts, I asked him if he…

Economy

Joke of the day: Mark Sanford’s re-coupling America to emerging markets

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

Marshall Auerback sent me this joke about Mark Sanford. Mark Sanford’s staff thought he was hiking in the mountains. In fairness to his aides, "I'm getting some Argentinian tail." sounds a lot like "I'm hiking the…

Markets

Hotels: Starwood faces black hole

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

R.W. Baird downgraded Starwood Hotels (HOT) from Neutral to Underperform, saying it was downgrading estimates on hotels across the board. This comes via Barrons: Starwood's former strengths are now weaknesses. During the boom Starwood's…

Political Economy

Galbraith and Buffett think a second stimulus is necessary

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

In reaction to recent comments about more stimulus by Laura Tyson, an advisor to President Obama, we have seen a host of commentators make their opinion known. Here are two more well regarded pundits: James Galbraith and Warren Buffett. …

Markets

Nationwide: guidance on its 125% LTV product

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

This comes via the Nationwide website: As a responsible lender which aims to support its borrowers Nationwide has responded to market conditions and made an option available which enables some existing customers in negative equity to move…

Economy

More on why big capital markets players are unmanageable

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

Yves had a very good post yesterday called “Why Big Capital Markets Players Are Unmanageable” on banks: the former i-banks and commercial banks. The biggest takeaway for me came from her statements regarding the level of responsibility…

Economy

Initial claims under 600K, continuing claims at record high

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

The latest figures on claims for unemployment insurance in the United States were released this morning. The data showed Initial claims of 565,000, putting the figure under 600,000 for the first time since January. But, continuing claims…

Markets

Nationwide brings back 125% LTV mortgages

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

The Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, is now bringing back the dreaded 125% mortgage. While the lender claims these mortgages are a “niche product” designed for customers of Nationwide in negative equity, the Financial…

Political Economy

A brief primer on Xinjiang, China and riots there

Edward Harrison Jul 9, 2009

When news first broke regarding the ethnic tensions and violence in Xinjiang, China, I was not familiar with the situation there. I have gotten up to speed and wanted to post a few videos and links for you on the situation there.…

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