Economy

UPDATE: The latest chart on U.S. consumer credit growth is here. I have been focusing on debt as a primary contributor to the slump the U.S. is experiencing. We've seen skyrocketing Debt-to-GDP and Mortgage Debt. Now, I want to look at…

I am wary of regional banks for good reason. KeyCorp came out with a disastrous earnings report yesterday and was promptly whacked by the market. The regionals have way to much exposure to commercial real estate (CRE) and construction…

The US regional banks are certainly the next set of financial institutions in the US that are going to get hit by the credit crisis. While these banks did not have significant exposure to the CDOs and RMBSs and other types of derivative…

2008 05 19 Crédit Agricole boosts risk controls after writedowns hit €3.3bn2008 05 19 Subprime Losses Top $379 Billion on Balance-Sheet Marks: Table2008 05 19 Banks Keep $35 Billion Markdown Off Income Statements2008 05 19 AIG to raise…

Surprise, surprise. Consider this a holiday surprise as many are out in the U.S. for Memorial Day and in the UK for the Bank Holiday. Multiple sources were reporting that UBS warned in its 985-page capital raising prospectus late on Friday…

Another side effect of the credit crunch is the lack of availability of cheap debt financing for businesses. Companies have two alternatives: they can hold off on needed financing until the credit markets are more inviting or they can…

Here's a long-term view of the US Federal government deficit.

I'd say that the UK is looking a lot like the U.S. looked a year or so ago, with high consumer debt loads and high property prices. What's the likelihood of recession. A near certainty."Over to the strategy team at Legal and General.…

I started tracking an odd statistic that I made up in the aftermath of the last recession called the 'Mortgage to Growth Gap' (MGG). At the time, a lot of pundits I respected where saying that American consumers were spending right through…

The credit crunch has claimed the heads of many a financial market since it was prematurely marked as 'contained' to subprime loans. These markets include jumbo mortgage loans, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), asset backed…