Economy

Hugh Hendry is back writing after a long hiatus. His latest commentary to investors makes for good reading. His thesis: we are in a world of debt deflation for which there are no policy remedies; the Fed is fighting an uphill battle and it…

Here our thoughts regarding the rumored downgrade of Italy. While we remain negative on the ratings for peripheral euro zone, we don't think a downgrade of Italy is a sure thing. Its numbers have always been bad, and have in fact stayed…

by Win Thin Ratings news from EM stands in stark contrast to what we’re seeing in the developed world. Yesterday, Uruguay was upgraded two notches. Today, S&P moved the outlook on Thailand’s BBB+ rating to stable from negative, noting…

by Win Thin Here are some more thoughts regarding the Fitch downgrade of Ireland by three notches to BBB+. The agency cited the mounting costs of the banking system rescue as a major factor behind the move, and is consistent with what we…

In the week ending 4 Dec 2010, initial claims for unemployment insurance in the US fell to a seasonally-adjusted figure of 421,000. This is a decrease from the revised 438,000 measured the week prior. The more followed 4-week average figure…

This is another little animated story on Greece that takes a rather cynical view of the politics and economy - a bit of gallows humor, really.

Present Obama answers questions on his decision to go against his campaign promises to let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Moody’s upgraded Uruguay two notches to Ba1 from Ba3 previously, bringing it into line with S&P’s BB+. We recently added Uruguay to our sovereign ratings model universe, bringing the total number of EM countries ranked to 39. As we…

Yes, I know; there are flaws in this video but still... C'mon, is Bernanke printing money or not? In 2002, he said yes. In 2009, he said yes. Now he says no? My take: it's a lot easier to tell a story if you stick to it. And it's also nice…

by Marc Chandler Russia is the last of the major countries that has not joined the World Trade Organization. The importance of the WTO may not be so much in liberalizing trade as negotiations take years. The WTO predecessor was GATT, which…