Markets

Money Week points out the scenario for Taylor Wimpey, the UK house builder resulting from the top-of-the-market merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey, now that shareholders have rejected its rights offer:We've been saying you should…

I said last week that people were in the mood to get some of the dastardly perpetrators of this housing fiasco. Washington and law enforcement officials around the U.S. are listening to the anger of their constituents and acting by going…

After U.S. inventories reported a shock 2 million barrel draw, the price of oil rose above $144 to a new record.Crude oil futures rose to a record above $144 a barrel in New York after a U.S. government report showed an unexpected decline…

from Bloomberg News: Ambac Financial Group Inc., the world's second-biggest bond insurer, stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange in a ``subpenny halt'' after its share price fell as low as $1.04. Ambac declined 3 cents, or 2.5…

New York City has held pretty well in this housing downturn to date. However, with money center banks reeling from the credit crisis, this has changed. Bloomberg reports sales in Manhattan falling 22% in the second quarter of 2008. Sales…

According to the Wall Street Journal, Denmark has slipped into recession because of falling house prices. Denmark saw a fairly head rise in house prices during the bubble (58% appreciation from 1997-2005). Since that time, house prices…

Nationwide, the UK building society, announced today that house prices in the UK fell 0.9% in June. As the worry about the international credit crisis has expanded, the UK has moved centre stage in terms of concern over house prices. As…

Japan suffered one of the most horrific market meltdowns in history from 1984-2004. Only four years after the last market bottom and on the verge of another global market downturn, it even may be too early to use the past tense to describe…

I ran a short poll over the last week and the results are in. Readers at Credit Writedowns expect house prices in the U.S. to fall well in excess of 30%. From where I sit, this makes a lot of sense (I voted too: for a 30-50% fall). If…

Bear markets are not an orgy of pain with indices going straight down. Along the way, there are always brief rallies which bring optimism that the worst is over.