Credit Writedowns

Many are unaware of this but there is an housing bubble and bust cycle ongoing right now in the euro zone core. I'm talking about the Netherlands, of course. Prices are now back to levels last seen in 2004 and still dropping. The problem in…

I actually thought about doing the daily on the Wells Fargo fraud 'without fraudsters' meme because it really captures the problem with regulation of our financial system but that is a policy issue. Instead, I want to focus on a macro…

By Daniel Gros, Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels Switzerland has pegged its currency to the euro at a level that helps it sustain a 12% current-account surplus and one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe.…

By Marc Chandler The dollar initially fell against the yen in the immediate knee-jerk reaction to S&P two-notch cut of Spain's sovereign rating.  It dipped briefly below JPY78.  However, it has rebounded smartly and is holding above…

I am running behind schedule so today's daily post won't feature an overarching narrative. More tomorrow.   Specs for Samsung's 4" Galaxy S3 Mini fall well short of Apple's iPhone 5 "While Samsung will compete with Apple's iPhone 5 by…

The following is the rationale for the ratings action Standard and Poor's took earlier today in downgrading the sovereign debt ratings of Spain Overview     -- The deepening economic recession is limiting the Spanish government's policy…

By Marc Chandler The Swiss National Bank does not miss an opportunity to remind market participants that it is determined to cap the Swiss franc's appreciation. The cost of imposing its will appears to be rising. The Financial Times today…

Jack Welch recently caused a ruckus by suggesting that the government was “cooking the books” with its economic data. Specifically, he tweeted the following last Friday after the employment situation report: "Unbelievable jobs…

Spiegel, a widely-read German magazine, has published a trilogy of articles on inflation in German that it has also translated into English. The theme is “How Monetary Policy Threatens Savings” and I see this as a must-read for those…

The IMF is out with its predictions for global growth in 2012 and 2013 and across the board the numbers are being reduced. In particular, the IMF sees growth slowing globally to 3.6% next year, which is a reduction from its July estimate of…