Credit Writedowns

- The most important development has been the dramatic rate hike by the central bank of Turkey - The effective tightening by the Turkish central bank was 2.25% - a lot less dramatic than the headlines would suggest - The rate hikes in…

By Marc Chandler Political developments in Italy are happening faster than Prime Minister Letta can maneuver. The economy he is overseeing is the poster child of ECB President Draghi's assessment of a weak, fragile and uneven recovery in…

Like last quarter, Apple set another record for revenue in its first quarter of 2014. However, margins at Apple have receded, turning year-on-year profit comparisons negative for yet another quarter. Earnings per share are up because of…

News links for 28 Jan 2014

As the emerging markets contagion spreads, the BRIC nations are coming under increasing pressure in the capital markets. As discussed previously Brazil and Russia are witnessing new multi-year/record lows in their currency valuations.

According to S&P’s Case-Shiler House Price Index, house prices are up on average 12% since 2003. The chart of the path of house prices during that time is below via the New York Times.

The global capital markets imploded in the second half of last week and investors spent the weekend contemplating the significance. The main focus was on the emerging markets, which were especially hard hit. Emerging market crisis have…

On Friday, I wrote about the slowdown in China, the bear market in commodities, and the volatility in emerging markets as being all interrelated. Of course, there is more to the selloff in emerging markets than just the slowdown in China…

News links for 27 Jan 2014

Back in early December the government of Argentina raised taxes on credit card purchases in foreign currency to 35% from 20%. Online Christmas shopping abroad became increasingly expensive. However, dollars continued to flow out of the…