banks

News that the US super committee failed to reach an agreement has done little to eclipse the negative impulses coming from Europe. Rajoy won no honeymoon in Spain despite achieving an outright majority in parliament. Spain's 10-year bond…

“Without consumption, markets are going to shrink. Companies won’t invest, stores will close, “for rent” signs will spread on the main streets and local tax revenues will fall. Companies will lay off their employees and the economy will…

It is beginning to look like a Greek exit is ever more likely, which means that the end of the EMU could be near. Even if exits and a break-up are not inevitable, countries should have a plan on the shelf. It is clear that Germany is…

The Wall Street Journal's Matt Phillips describes the turmoil in European sovereign bond markets. He says some traders tell him that they now consider countries like France a part of the periphery and are pricing it as such. This risk-off…

The following is the text of the recent ratings action taken by Moody's on twelve German state-owned banks.

And just two days after I reported on the starve-the-beast strategy that’s forcing the SEC to pursue Mickey-Mouse settlements with the big banks, we learn of plans to handicap the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission in a similar…

Pressure is mounting on Spain. The 10-year yield today is essentially back to where it was when the ECB broadened its sovereign bond purchase scheme to include Spanish and Italian bonds. On Oct 27, the 10-year yield was near 5.33%. Today it…

Andrew Haldane, in my opinion, generally has the right idea about banks and their risks, which are risks not just “to themselves” but to all of society and the global economy. Yet here Haldane’s endorsing the sort of sleight of hand that…

There are a number of ways that European banks are moving to boost their Tier 1 capital and strengthen their balance sheets. Some are cutting dividends, diluting current share holders through new rights issues, laying off staff, and selling…

Here’s more from Warren Buffett on CNBC this morning. This time he talks to Becky Quick about ‘Too Big To Fail’. CNBC host Joe Kernen takes sides with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and asks Buffett whether we can regulate them to “keep…