Economy

In the clearest signal yet that we are still in a potentially devastating global deflationary spiral, The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank and the world’s oldest central bank, has effectively cut interest rates to minus 0.25% and has started…

The Absolute Return Letter, July 2009 “You can’t beat deflation in a credit-based system.”-Robert Prechter The great debate As investors we are faced with the consequences of our decisions every single day; however, as my old mentor…

Credit is still tight despite the low Libor rates and other signs that market stress has died down. Case and point is an item I ran across on the Norwegian site E24. Apparently, Amsterdam is losing revenue as its prostitutes in the red…

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more questionable in Washington, then along comes this (hat tip Tom). Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at…

Wow.  The Feds sure know how to celebrate Independence Day.  I went out for a couple of hours and four more banks were seized bringing the grand total to seven for the day and 52 on the year. Here are all the FDIC seizures for…

This is the press release from the FDIC.  Deposits of only $75 million.  Small banks are seized, big banks get bailed out, of course. Rock River Bank, Oregon, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial…

Another tiny little bank. Deposits of $34 million. The First State Bank of Winchester, Winchester, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking, which appointed the…

This is number 46 this year. Very small.  Why not wait?  Holiday weekend? The John Warner Bank, Clinton, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking,…

The labor market in the United States lost 467,00 jobs in June.  But this was just the headline number as unemployment rose to 9.5%.  Unfortunately, the deep dive shows a situation that mirrors this weakness. Establishment Survey…

The U.S. Department of Labor released the latest data for unemployment insurance as it does every Thursday at 830ET.  The seasonally adjusted numbers reported were 614,000 initial claims and 6.702 million continuing claims. While this…