Credit Writedowns

If Mervyn King is right regarding comments he made in his letter to the Chancellor Alistair Darling, then we should expect interest rates to head down after peaking sometime before year's end. I tend to agree with him that the deflationary…

Of all of the inflation indices the ONS (Office for National Statistics) in the UK uses, the RPI data are the most comprehensive. This particular series runs back to 1948 and is use in all manner of contracts, pension schemes, what have…

From Bloomberg News: Regional Banks Tumble Zions, the lender with operations in 10 Western U.S. states, tumbled 10 percent to $33.44 for the steepest decline in the S&P 500. ``Weakness'' in residential construction and land values in…

Industrial production and capacity utilization numbers were released by the Fed this morning. These numbers are important because production is one of five factors the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) looks at to judge…

I am hearing from multiple sources that the large property company Drac, based in Mallorca in Spain, has filed for bankruptcy. The company had 600 or 700 million euros of debt at the time of its bankruptcy, depending upon the source. Drac…

Mervyn King correctly assessed inflation risks to be temporary and the downside to come from the real economy. It sounds like he is not hawkish. Chances of a rate cut are down now. I believe the BoE wants some inflation to help do the…

Regional banks have not suffered the writedowns suffered by the major banks and investment banks due to their lack of derivatives exposure. But, loose lending standards are starting to bite. The LA Times has an excellent story out, which…

Jeremy Grantham, a hedge fund manager based in the Boston area, is one of the more respected money managers who has had a cautious view on equities during this past economic cycle. The Canadian daily Globe & Mail has a good interview…

The Mess That Greenspan Made has a blog entry with good visuals giving you a sense of how price appreciation, median prices and housing sales have changed over the past 4-5 years. I recommend it highly.

This newsletter from John Mauldin arrived in my inbox this morning. If you haven't read his newsletters they are very good, including those from Guest commentators like this one from James Montier. I will add the text in full. It is…