Sign in
Sign in
Recover your password.
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Pending home sales down 13% on year
Why does the media report month to month statistics like they mean anything? It's the year-on-year trend that is important. Note the headline in this item versus the reality.
April pending home sales rise as prices tumble
The…
Mortgage insurers will trigger further writedowns
Citigroup, Merrill, UBS Face Further Writedowns, Whitney SaysBy Jeff KearnsJune 9 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG may post further writedowns of $10 billion on their debt holdings after the two biggest bond…
RBS couldn’t raise the money
RBS failed to get all the money it needed for its rights issue with 300 million shares still in the hands of its underwriters, reports the FT. These shares are to be sold today. This massive $24 billion (£ 12 billion) shows the limits of…
Lehman Brothers to post $3 bln loss; sets $6 bln stock sale
This sounds a lot like Bradford and Bingley in the UK. Lehman is really on the edge of collapsing. They need the money....NOW! One must believe the second leg down in bank credit write-offs and the credit crunch has started.By Steve…
Which homebuilder will go bankrupt next?
When was the last time you heard of a major U.S. home builder going bankrupt? It's been quite a while. Even though my focus right now is firmly fixed on financial institutions and mortgage lenders, I have a watchful eye on home builders.…
Brazil: Look who’s got a Sovereign Wealth Fund
The FT reported today that Brazil, fattened by newly found oil reserves and a sky-high oil price, is getting into the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) game. They are ready to fund $200 billion toward this project and have built up the currency…
Another Perfect Recession Indicator
Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture is on to something. He has found A Perfect Recession Indicator. Since 1953, when year-over-year Non-Farm payrolls have gone negative, there has been a recession. This happened nine out of nine times for…
Wave of regional bank write-offs?
I have posted a few times on the problem surrounding an imminent writedown wave for commercial real estate (CRE) and construction loans in the US. A few days back, I had intended to post more about regionals. The Wall Street Journal had a…
Barclays taps Sovereign Wealth Funds
The Sunday Telegraph is reporting yet another major Western bank is going cap in hand to sovereign wealth funds in order to stave off the inevitable crisis. This time its Barclays, Britain's third largest bank. At a time when RBS is…
The case against the Euro
I am a Euroscpetic. I admire the political will of Europe's grand designers in creating the Euro, but I have always felt that harmonisation would be a painful process fraught with tension - especially during economic downturns. And so it is…