Credit Writedowns

The consensus is coming down on the bearish side for U.S. government bonds in 2009. There is ample reason to believe that Treasuries will be an asset class to avoid this year. Yet, as I argue in a post a few days ago, "rates can go to…

As an article in my links yesterday suggested, for many in the west, Russia's behavior of late has lurched toward the unpredictable, volatile and aggressive. After Russia's moves against Georgia in South Ossetia, wariness in the west has…

British interest rates may sink to lowest since 1694 - Telegraph BBC NEWS | Romanian fear amid economic gloom Russia: Energy enigma, gas theories abound - BBC News Bloomberg.com: Oil Caps Biggest Weekly Gain Since 1986 on Geopolitical…

If you are wondering why the U.S. housing market is a mess, watch this video about a $103,000 mortgage that was used to finance a shack --literally, a shack. Of course, the mortgage was packaged with a bunch of others into a mortgage…

With the global economy n recession and inflation headed toward zero, government bonds are looking like the best place to put ones money. As a result, we have seen yields on these assets drop to incredibly low levels in the world's largest…

David Rosenberg has been one of the voices of reason warning of excesses during the recent boom and predicting the unraveling to which we are now witness.  I have quoted him liberally here.  There is a very good piece on Rosenberg in the…

There has been a general outcry for economic stimulus on the part of the North American, U.K. and Eurozone federal governments to counteract the fall in private sector consumption. In the U.S. and the U.K. in particular, this message is…

I am still playing a bit of catch up with my e-mail, reading and writing, so I won't be linking out to any interesting blog stories today. However, I did want to give you a taste of what I thought were the most relevant news stories on the…

Bankruptcy is a necessary part of a free market. I certainly believe this to be so. Rick Newman, who writes the blog "Flow Chart" over at U.S. News, is putting forward the provocative idea that failure is exactly what we needed more of in…

The Institute for Supply Management released its monthly manufacturing survey for the Unite States today. The data show a fall from 36.2 to 32.4 where 50 represents the divide between recession and expansion. The 32.4 figure represented…