Economy

I got a tip from a friend Andrew about a sale of assets by Wells Fargo (WFC) which raises a number of interesting questions.  He sent me the following 14 July article from the Milwaukee Business Journal. Wells Fargo sold $600…

This comes via Bloomberg: Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s second- quarter profit exceeded analysts’ estimates as record trading and stock underwriting led the company to its highest quarterly profit. Net income in the three months ended…

Talk about V-shaped recoveries.  Here’s one that’s actually for real.  It’s in Singapore and it’s huge. Singapore appears to be emerging from its worst recession on record after the economy expanded at an annualised rate of…

I listened to the first day of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings for a spot as a US Supreme Court justice. I was very impressed.  The three who impressed me the most were Al Franken (D-MN), Arlen Specter (D-PA), and Sotomayor…

Just when I was wondering where Meredith Whitney had gone, she’s back.  But she has a whole new tone to her.  In this interview on CNBC, she says she is expecting a monster number from Goldman (GS) tomorrow morning, in 2010 and in 2011. She…

Central banks are not the only ones printing money to help get through this financial crisis.  Private citizens are increasingly turning to the printing press to help alleviate their financial problems as well.  My translation of…

This comes via the Telegraph: UK Financial Investments (UKFI) said in its annual report that its loss on the two stakes - 70pc of RBS and 43pc of Lloyds Banking Group - had reached £10.9bn at the end of June. The losses, which are not…

The video linked below is a must-see piece of journalistic skepticism. The duo at Bloomberg News are discussing the recent alleged theft of trading code by a former Goldman employee Sergey Aleynikov who moved to a hedge fund called Citadel…

This comes via der Standard, an Austrian daily.  My translation below: The international financial crisis has hit eastern Europe harder than previously expected, according to a press report. At least ten states are negotiating with…

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.…