Credit Writedowns

The latest trend in the U.S. housing market is the move of problem loans from the subprime category and into Alt-A and prime mortgages. We have been sounding the alarm bells on this since about June. See the related posts below. However,…

Of the major currencies, the Japanese Yen has been the strongest in the last few months, while the Australian Dollar has been the weakest. These two currencies have also been the most conspicuous in the Japanese carry trade. That trade is…

You remember the furor in 2004 over the hackability of the Diebold voting machines? Well, that same worry is back in 2008 and apparently Homer Simpson has fallen prey. Watch the video. Hilarious. (hat tip Marshall Auerback). Related…

The recent movement in global markets has me scratching my head a bit. You have people dumping gold and the Swiss Franc in order to invest in the U.S. dollar and Treasury securities. Everyone says it is a flight to quality. I do not…

The set-up for this morning is anything but good. We are looking at another ugly day as global equity markets have plummeted. We would be lucky to escape this with a 300-point loss like Friday.

This SNL skit making fun of the Obamas is hilarious. Even Obama fans have to laugh! (hat tip Marshall Auerback).

In the last few weeks, the currency market is where the action has been. We have witnessed massive moves in every major currency and in some not so major ones. To my mind, all of this is a prelude to some sort of currency crisis. This…

We had a great comeback to be down only 300 points on the Dow yesterday. Who knew that the day would come when I would be satisfied with losing only 300 points. Below are some of the best of blogger posts on the web. Have a great…

'I made a mistake,' admits Greenspan Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said the credit crisis had exceeded anything he had imagined and admitted he was wrong to think that banks would protect themselves from financial…

I have felt for sometime that dollar strength is a counter-trend that has a sell-by date written all over it. You see, the Federal Reserve is ballooning its balance sheet like nobody's business as it tries to be the global lender of last…