Author

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.

Markets

Conoco Phillips’ $34 billion writedown makes me bullish

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

I read about ConocoPhillips taking a massive $34 billion writedown and my first reaction was glee. Why? This type of draconian response demonstrates that the glut of oil we now see will soon be a deficit. The oil patch is notoriously…

Political Economy

Zimbabwe: The 100 Trillion Dollar Note

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

The new $100,000,000,000,000 note is now out in Zimbabwe. It is worth 23 Euros ($30)

Political Economy

Baltics: Violence from an Argentina-style collapse

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

The riots on the streets of Vilnius and Riga in the Baltics are not being covered in the least in the U.S. media (Hat tip Ken). I believe they should because, as with Greece, the social unrest we are witnessing in those countries is the…

Political Economy

Is Japan next on the road to quantitative easing?

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

News in Japan has been particularly grim. Industrial production has plummeted, exports are in free fall and banks are simply not lending as excess reserves pile up. As a result, Japanese share prices threaten to revisit lows that bring the…

Economy

Countrywide is the real problem at Bank of America

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

Now that the government has bailed out Bank of America, I want to remind you that this Bank is a serial acquirer and that the Merrill acquisition is not the only boneheaded move by Bank of America.

News

Links: 2009-01-16 – Banks, Ireland, and Africa

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

There is a lot of news out there so I have broken the links up into distinct sections. But, I have three topics of particular note today. They are banks, Ireland and Africa. Let's start with banks. Everyone has heard what is going on at…

Economy

U.S. CPI: Lowest since 1954 – deflation here we come

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

The United States Department of Labor released its monthly data on inflation today at 8:30AM. The data showed that inflation rose only 0.1% over the last year, the lowest reading since 1954. I should note that oil and food prices continue…

Monetary System

Peter Schiff: “Government is a burden on the economy”

Edward Harrison Jan 16, 2009

Peter Schiff is that market wizard people were laughing at just a year ago because of his extreme views. Well, things have turned out much as he has indicated they would. So, now he has a captive audience. And what is he saying?…

Political Economy

Ireland nationalizes Anglo Irish bank

Edward Harrison Jan 15, 2009

The Irish government scrapped a planned recapitalization of Anglo Irish Bank and moved straight to full nationalization. While some may view this as a necessary move to shore up a troubled institution, I see this as ominous news because…

Economy

British commercial property prices down 27% in 2008

Edward Harrison Jan 15, 2009

Last year, the British economy was one of the hardest hit by the now evident commercial property (CRE) implosion. Prices fell 27.1% in 2008, including a record 5.8% in December alone, suggesting the trend is accelerating. I mentioned in my…

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