Credit Writedowns

Initial jobless claims rose 32,000 to 637,000 last week in the United States. This helped push continuing claims to another record of 6.56 million, suggesting the unemployment rate will continue to rise at a worrying pace going forward. …

This is a video from Bloomberg Television yesterday. It underscores the fragility of this incipient recovery. You will notice that California is leading the way in terms of foreclosures, one reason the state will 00 bankrupt or be bailed…

You can see this coming.  It is looming and has been for some  time.  Remember that California is the biggest loser in the housing crash and it has one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States.  I have been warning that this…

U.S. foreclosure filings sets record in April, seen jumping | Reuters "U.S. foreclosure activity in April jumped 32 percent from a year ago to a record high, and should mount because temporary freezes on foreclosures ended in March,…

It is not just the Chinese making noises about the reliability of the United States as a debtor.  Now, Japanese politicians are doing it too.  In fact, the Democratic Party of Japan (which is not in power) have said they would not buy U.S.…

This morning you may have read Gideon Rachman’s positive view on Hungary.  He said the panic is all but over and it looks like Hungry is going to get through this debt crisis. The horror scenario envisaged a Hungarian banking collapse that…

Not to go all bearish on you here, but I do think it is significant that a number of market pros are coming out of hiding and predicting some major turmoil.  The latest in this group is Jim Rogers.  He thinks we are about to have a serious…

As you all know, I think we are in a secular bear market rally/cyclical bull market right now. So, yes, this has been and may continue to be a powerful up-move in shares worldwide. However, I am certainly not convinced we are off to the…

Last night I received an advance copy of a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Kate Kelly that gives us a peek inside the last seventy-two hours at Bear Stearns in March 2008.  If you are interested in finance, “Street Fighters” is…

You may have noticed that the news cycle has turned down: U.K. manufacturing down, bank stocks down, Chinese inflation and exports down. All of this points to the underlying weakness in the global economy. I should also point out that a…