Credit Writedowns

A Cul-de-Sac of Lost Dreams, and New Ones - NYTimes.com For a few precious weeks this summer, all eight houses on this cul-de-sac about 60 miles east of Los Angeles were occupied, but the housing bust that has come to define the…

European Stress Tests Led Swedbank to Offering - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com Carl Eric Stalberg, chairman of Swedbank, told Svenska Dagbladet in an interview published Friday that stress tests conducted by the central banks, financial…

It’s official: Guaranty Bank is the second-largest bank seized by the FDIC in 2009. BBVA, through its American subsidiary Compass, is increasing its profile in the US. And now it can do so, not only through merger, but through FDIC asset…

I count three already.  Here they are: ebank, Atlanta, GA Stearns Bank, National Association, St. Cloud, Minnesota, Assumes All of the Deposits of ebank Atlanta, Georgia CapitalSouth Bank, Birmingham, Alabama IBERIABANK,…

I intended to write this post about high frequency trading. The idea was to link to a very enlightening podcast that aired yesterday on “Taking Stock” with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge was on the program talking…

Data on existing home sales were significantly above expectations with a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million sales registered according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  The NAR released a statement on the…

Elga Bartsch writes that Morgan Stanley looks at the recent data coming out of Eurloand as distinctly bullish. As a result, they are revising up their GDP estimates. A number of countries, notably the euro area's two largest economies -…

German economic recovery powers ahead - FT The purchasing managers’ index for Europe’s largest economy jumped to 54.2 in August, from 49.0 in July, signalling an unexpectedly brisk pace of expansion. The growth was driven by the service…

The bailouts, deficit spending, and debate over health care are having a very nasty negative effect on the electoral fortunes of the Democratic party. Charlie Cook, a well-known and respected election pundit, writes (emphasis added):…

Jesse of Jesse's Café Américain posted on the important subject of deregulation in his last post, “Why the Austrian, Keynesian, Marxist, Monetarist, and Neo-Liberal Economists Are All Wrong.” In it, he opined that it is entirely…