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Economy
U.S Services contract too
The latest bit out from the U.S. is that the services sector has unexpectedly contracted.From Bloomberg News:U.S. service industries unexpectedly contracted in June as a gauge of prices soared to a record and employment reached an all-time…
U.K. Services Contract
After finding that UK and European manufacturing are in the doldrums, today we hear that UK services are also contracting. This surely must mean that the UK is in or will soon be in recession.From Bloomberg News:U.K. services from airlines…
Jobless Claims: 404,000
With a slew of layoffs ranging from airlines to banking, expect both claims data and the unemployment rate to spike up substantially. This week may be the first such week as jobless claims came in at 404,000, the 2nd time over 400,000 this…
ECB hikes key rate to 4.25%
So after much posturing about inflation and what to do about it, the Fed backed down, and the ECB stepped up to the plate. What the effect on currencies and the bond market will be is anyone's guess. But, given the Fed's rhetoric does not…
US Unemployment shows 5.5%, net loss of 62,000 jobs
The data was better than expected. I will look to see what a drill down says about the data. My initial take is that the data look fairly benign: construction fell by 43,000, manufacturing employment fell by 33,000. Within…
Fortis sells part of ABN Amro to Deutsche
Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian banking giant under pressure to shed assets because of the credit crisis, has disposed of part of its ABN Amro acquisition. Deutsche Bank has acquired the assets for 709 million Euros, according to a report in the…
Layoff plans up 21% in first half of year
Challenger Gray & Christmas said announced layoffs were 81,755 last month, up 47% compared to a year ago. For the entire second quarter, layoffs rose to 275,292, the most since late 2005. So far this year,…
Principal-agent problem, part 1: banks
As the financial sector melts down, one wonders which institutions are the safest: smaller local banks, money center banks, super regionals, credit unions. Credit unions are certainly something to think about because they offer high rates…
Lawsuit: steering mortgage applicants could mean more writedowns
When lenders violate the U.S. federal lending disclosure laws, they may get stuck with the loan losses. This is the case now being argued before the courts in Wisconsin, with major implications on the number of cases to be filed and the…
Florida sues Countrywide
From the Wall Street Journal: Florida Sues CountrywideThe Florida attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. and its chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, alleging that the company engaged in deceptive and unfair…