crisis

Recently, the U.S. Treasury forced government capital injections onto nine U.S. financial institutions (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Wachovia, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley). While…

CNBC and other media sources are reporting that a number of hedge funds are collapsing under the weight of poor performance and massive fund redemption. Given the market volatility in credit, sick, bond and currency markets, it was only a…

Inflation was unchanged from the previous month in September, bringing the annual rate of inflation down to 4.9%. While the inflation rate is still elevated, the drop in oil and commodity prices combined with lower consumer spending is…

My last post's title "The panic is over" was a bit cheeky given the Dow was down an astounding 700-some points today. The crux of the matter is continued economic weakness due to slowing consumer spending. And that means more writedowns…

In 1999, Edward Chancellor wrote a wonderful book called "Devil Take The Hindmost," which I recommend to anyone who is interested in the history of bubbles, financial speculation, and market panics. In it, Chancellor traces the origins of…

Just moments ago Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech in which he said the following about Lehman Brother: "there was not enough collateral to support the lending." This was Bernanke's response to a question about whether…

SourceTom Toles Cartoons - Washington Post

If you don't think that the recapitalisation scheme by Gordon Brown doesn't matter, then take a look no further than Nationwide Building Society. The mutual company is not under pressure in the equity markets like RBS, HBOS or Barclays.…

This morning is shaping u to be one of the largest up days in market history. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up over 10%. Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 6 and 1/2 percent. In Europe, major markets are up as much as 7%. Dow…

SourceTom Toles Cartoons - Washington Post