Credit Writedowns

With the economy weakening significantly around the globe, the budgets of sovereign nations are coming under increased pressure. As a result S&P has put a number of countries under review for potential credit downgrades. However, now,…

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has picked up on the decline in trade flows that many have highlighted in recent months. This time, he looks at European-Asian trade flows and sees some major problems.

Let's get right to the heart of things. It's the credit writedowns. They are coming and they are large. First, is Deutsche Bank coming in with a 4.8 billion Euro loss for the quarter. That's massive. The word on the street is that Deutsche…

It's a done deal. The Citigroup - Morgan Stanley dance is now over. The price for a 51% stake Smith Barney was $2.7 Billion. The seems like a very low valuation here but I haven't looked through the terms of the deal in depth. This is…

A friend living in Latvia wrote that he was "stunned by the chaos that broke out in Riga this evening." I had heard absolutely nothing about it until he told me. Apparently, a peaceful protest outside Parliament turned bloody when the…

Vikram Pandit understands the seriousness of the challenge ahead, if Citi wants to remain a going concern. He must break the firm up and end Citi's disastrous experiment with becoming a financial supermarket.

There is no way to look past the way that the U.S. TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) has been administered and not understand we are seeing crony capitalism at work. One only need look at the way the British are doing things to see a…

Today, the Seattle Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) has admitted that it is on the verge of collapse and may need to avail itself of conservatorship, much as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did previously. One should see this announcement as a…

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech at the London School of Economics today in which he outlined the measures the Federal Reserve was prepared to take in order to deal with the financial crisis. Of particular note, Bernanke…

Earnings season has finally begun, with Alcoa leading the way. They produced a major loss yesterday as expected. The question going forward is whether we will see any upside surprises. If we do, that might support stocks. I am not expecting…