United States

The IMF total contribution to the European rescue fund is not a solid one. That is, the IMF responds to country-by-country requests for aid, not to regions. Thus, the IMF really does not have EUR250 bln set aside just for Europe.…

The under-current from Putin's remarks has much to do with anti-US Dollar sentiment because he said specifically that having the U.S. dollar as the sole reserve currency "is definitely something negative." Putin is serious about ditching…

Market participants are rightfully focused on the contagion of Ireland within Europe.  However, the depth of US corporate ties to Ireland may surprise many investors.  The value-added of majority owned affiliates of US companies…

What accounts for the difference in inflation paths in the UK and the US?  In America, we have disinflation, causing the Federal Reserve to conduct a second round of quantitative easing. But in the UK, we have accelerating inflation.…

The reason: QE. The downgrade for the U.S. is to A+ from AA, with a negative outlook because of quantitative easing, according to Xinhua. According to the ratings agency, quantitative easing will further depreciate the U.S. dollar and…

I have written a few posts showing you the ranking for the big banks globally, with a special emphasis on Europe because of systemic risk. But here's a great bubble chart that gives you a visual on the relative size of the big banks…

The US industrial production fell 0.2% in Sept.  The market consensus was for a gain of the same magnitude.  This is the first decline since June 2009.  Manufacturing output fell 0.2%, utility output fell 1.9%, and mining…

By Kevin Brekke A news item warranting special mention went largely unremarked on in the media last week. On Monday, Sept. 27, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it had “submitted for publication in the…

"Malaise" speech When the energy market exploded — an occurrence Carter tried to avoid during his term — he was planning on delivering his fifth major speech on energy; however, he felt that the American people were no…

Now that I am back in the saddle, I am going to start doing my week in review narratives again with links to the most newsworthy posts from the past week or so. On second thought, let me actually cover the ground back to the beginning of…