Credit Writedowns

When you hear about inflation on TV, don't you often wonder why the official number seems lower than inflation feels to you when you go shopping? It's an open secret in Washington, but the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the common measure of…

If you are looking for companies that have yet to write down massive amounts of losses in this global credit meltdown, look no further than Banco Santander. The Spanish Bank holds a major position in the Spanish mortgage and construction…

As I suggested in my blog titled 'The U.S. Economy 2008,' protectionism is the obvious outcome to a global economic downturn. As the economy turns down, people feel frustrated and angry. They look for scapegoats and turn to economic…

Buffett Says Recession May Be Worse Than Feared (Yahoo! News, 4/28/2008)One Guy Who Has Seen It All Doesn't Like What He Sees Now (WSJ, 4/26/2008)Ignore nonsense that credit crisis is over (Stene Pearlstein, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette…

Looking through old e-mails, I read an article from the FT in 2006 that surfaced claiming that HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland)were poised and ready to go offer loans for 125% of value. That's right, HBOS thought it a good idea to cover 95%…

There was heavy overbuilding in Spain as the global housing bubble caught fire there these past years. Now, Spain's bubble has burst and it is having dire economic consequences. The Spanish National Statistics Office released the most…

While I am not particularly optimistic about house prices in the U.S. nationally over the medium term, a recent Washington Post article suggests that prices in the Maryland suburbs of DC are not suffering like other jurisdictions around the…

Note: This post is from April 2008 but is updated from time to time to reflect charts of the current market conditions The TED spread is a common measure of fear and risk in the capital markets. Judging from where the TED spread is now…

The bubble built in residential housing is quickly moving to commercial real estate. It stands to reason that commercial real estate should suffer if residential real estate does. Yet, those same financiers who brought us the housing…

I f anyone doubted it, China's bubble has finally popped. The Shanghai Composite Index is down 50% from its highs in 2007. That is a massive downswing that must have broader consequences. Moreover, this is likely the result of a…