Credit Writedowns

Below is the press release issued by Moody's in conjunction with the down grade of Australia's mortgage insurers.

US dollar was firmer vs. majors Monday even as euro zone news stream remains negative; Moody's cut Belgium two notches Friday to Aa3 and kept a negative outlook. Euro short positions at record high on IMM; euro zone Finance Ministers to…

A chart with a country by country breakdown of the over 100 billion euros of additional capital needed by euro zone banks

The country’s debt dynamics are far from unsustainable at this point, but given the weakening in the country’s export performance and the steady unwinding of the housing boom we can now anticipate I would expect growth to be weaker than…

The ECB is seen to be the key protagonist and the pressure is more acute on it to act. Yet it steadfastly refuses. The other solution that has been advocated is a joint European bond. It is not going to be forthcoming any time soon. Such…

Banks can borrow as much as they want from the central for three years at the refi rate. They are limited only by their desire and collateral. The ECB also liberalized further its definition of acceptable collateral. But expectations of…

I don’t think there is a whole lot to say about this week’s numbers beyond what I have been saying for the past several months. Nothing substantial has really changed. China’s external account is worsening, and will continue to worsen…

The “smart money” has been buying up farmland hand over fist for the past few years and you can see how they helped drive up land prices in the U.S. heartland. Some think this is the place to be if the shit really hits the fan. Not gold,…

The guys over at Bespoke put out a great piece yesterday comparing the post-bubble performance of U.S. financials after the February 2007 top and the technology sector after the dot.com peak in March 2000.