Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Volvo Truck Sales Plunge 99.7%
October 27th, 2008Via: This is Money: The depth of the recession was revealed today as truckmaker Volvo admitted demand across the Continent has crashed by 99.7% as it took orders for just 115 new lorries in the last three months. That compares to orders totalling 41,970 in the third quarter of 2007. Global orders for Volvo slumped […]
“This Is The Biggest Currency Crisis The World Has Ever Seen”
October 27th, 2008Via: Telegraph: The crisis in Hungary recalls the heady days of the UK’s expulsion from the ERM. The financial crisis spreading like wildfire across the former Soviet bloc threatens to set off a second and more dangerous banking crisis in Western Europe, tipping the whole Continent into a fully-fledged economic slump. Currency pegs are being […]
U.S. Companies Are Still Competitive… For Bailout Money
October 27th, 2008Maybe the firms can hire BlackWater vans and aircraft to transport legions of hookers and suitcases of bribe money around the greater Washington DC area. Welcome to the Bailout Industrial Complex. Via: AP: The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town. Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury […]
Asian Markets Sharply Lower Again: Nikkei Down 6%, Hang Seng Down 12%
October 27th, 2008Europe is just getting underway and it’s the same: Sharply lower again. Via: AP: Asian stock markets resumed their slide Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei stock index falling to a 26-year low, as government rescue measures failed to ease fears of a prolonged global recession. Investors were scared to wade back into equities, worried a stream […]
Australia: Central Bank Tries to Halt Currency Collapse
October 27th, 2008Spit balls at the ready… Aim… FIRE! Via: AFP: Australia’s central bank intervened Monday to prop up the local dollar after it plunged 3.7 percent against the greenback as investors turned it into the whipping boy of the global financial crisis. The rare intervention by the central bank was aimed at adding liquidity “in an […]
World Gives Aussie Dollar a Walloping
October 27th, 2008Via: Sydney Morning Herald: GLOBAL financial markets have singled out the Australian dollar for special punishment. Over the weekend the local currency was subjected to its biggest sell-off since it was floated in 1983. As the gloom darkens over the global economy, the frenzied sell-off on world sharemarkets has spread to currency markets, and the […]
With Wreckage Piling Up, Fed Eyes Another Rate Cut
October 27th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell of hold any financial instrument. DISCLOSURE: I hold physical gold and November call options on GLD. In a more sane world, one would expect an interest rate reduction to lead to a drop in the value of a currency, relative to that currency’s peers. With the […]
Central Banks Are Likely to Launch Coordinated Emergency Action This Week
October 26th, 2008Via: Reuters: Central banks are likely to launch new coordinated emergency action this week to calm panic in financial markets, which could be rocked further by data pointing to global recession. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates sharply following share selloffs and currency collapses in developed economies and the emerging markets of […]
S&P 500 Heads for Worst Month Since 1938
October 26th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: U.S. stocks tumbled this week, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index toward the steepest monthly loss since 1938, on concern the global economy is sliding into a recession. Alcoa Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. retreated the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, losing more than 18 percent, as investors bet […]
Tens of Thousands of Australians Are Unable Access Savings After Investment Companies Suspended Withdrawals
October 25th, 2008Via: The Age: PRESSURE on the Federal Government over its bank deposit guarantee has escalated after three big financial institutions hit with a spate of withdrawals by customers last night froze their accounts. Tens of thousands of Australians, many of them retirees, are now unable to get immediate access to their capital after AXA Asia […]
