Sweden

From the Guardian: General Motors announces closure of 62-year-old Swedish carmaker after collapse of negotiations with Spyker One of the most famous names in European motoring, Saab, is set to be consigned to automotive history…

Moody’s anticipates continued losses at Danske Bank, SEB, and Swedbank due to large exposure outside of the Nordic markets.  In particular, exposure in the Baltics is likely to lead to continued writedowns for Nordic banking…

From Reuters: A deal by General Motors Co GM.UL to sell its Saab brand collapsed on Tuesday when the buyer pulled out in a move that threatens the Swedish luxury brand with closure. GM had been aiming to close a deal by the end of…

There is mounting evidence that bubbles are forming again everywhere across the globe as easy money makes itself felt in asset prices. The latest evidence comes from Sweden where Europe’s lowest home loan rates have pushed up the price of…

The following is my translation of a much-discussed article that appeared in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet at the weekend.  This information was being withheld from the public and leaked at an inopportune moment. Note that the…

Across the world, governments are doing their level best to shore up weak banking systems in the wake of the most significant final crisis in decades.  Most market players appear to believe these efforts successful; why else have…

Today, Swedbank, a Swedish bank with huge Baltic loan loss exposure, surprised investors with a second rights issue in less than a year.  In going to investors for more money, the company said its doing so in a fully underwritten deal…

Earnings season is upon us and the Swedish banks have begun reporting earnings. Their results have seen huge writedowns that demonstrate large and continued exposure to souring loans in the Baltics. Handelsbanken and Nordea reported…

This is my translation of an article from Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish daily. Swedish banks are planning to write down Latvian personal loans by 10 percent. However, the proposal includes only a small part of the Latvia’s mountain of debt.…

In the clearest signal yet that we are still in a potentially devastating global deflationary spiral, The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank and the world’s oldest central bank, has effectively cut interest rates to minus 0.25% and has started…