Archive for the 'Economy' Category
EMERGENCY: RUSSIAN MARKETS REMAIN CLOSED AFTER CRASH
September 17th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Russian markets stopped trading for a second day after emergency funding measures by the government failed to halt the biggest stock rout since the country’s debt default and currency devaluation a decade ago. The ruble-denominated Micex Stock Exchange suspended trading indefinitely at 12:10 p.m. after its index erased a 7.6 percent gain and […]
“We’ve got a … retail bank run forming in this country”
September 17th, 2008Via: AP: Banks are not the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer may be the lender of last resort. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress, could […]
RUSSIAN STOCK MARKET CRASHES, CLOSES
September 17th, 2008Via: Financial Times: Russian shares suffered their steepest one-day fall in more than a decade on Tuesday, losing up to 20 per cent, as a sharp slide in oil prices and difficult money market conditions triggered a rush to sell. The heads of the Russian central bank, the finance ministry and the financial market regulator […]
Fed to Give AIG $85 Billion Loan and Take 80% Stake
September 17th, 2008Via: IHT: In an extraordinary turn, the Federal Reserve agreed Tuesday night to take a nearly 80 percent stake in the troubled giant insurance company, the American International Group, in exchange for an $85 billion loan. The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase had been trying to arrange a $75 billion loan for […]
“There is going to be a new financial world order that will be born of this”
September 16th, 2008Mmm hmm. Via: Bloomberg: In the biggest reshaping of the financial industry since the Great Depression, two of Wall Street’s most storied firms, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., headed toward extinction. New York-based Lehman, founded 158 years ago, said early today that it filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to find […]
EMERGENCY: AIG CRASHING
September 16th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: American International Group Inc.’s ratings cut drove the cost of default protection on Wall Street banks to a record on concern that the insurer needs more cash to back $441 billion of credit derivatives. Credit-default swaps on Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wachovia Corp. and Citigroup Inc. all traded at record highs […]
U.S. Stocks Drop, S&P 500 Sinks Most Since 2001 Terror Attacks
September 15th, 2008Waiting for the open in Tokyo. Japanese markets were closed yesterday… Via: Bloomberg: U.S. stocks tumbled, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the steepest drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy and declining commodities increased speculation that credit-market losses and the economic slowdown will worsen. Stocks erased […]
GLOBAL FINANCIAL EMERGENCY
September 15th, 2008I’ll commence a crisis thread here. New information on top: Debt-Ridden Alitalia in Crisis Talks Via: CNN: Efforts to save debt-ridden Italian flag carrier Alitalia were continuing Monday night amid warnings that flights could be grounded because of the airline’s inability to pay for fuel. … On Saturday Alitalia’s bankruptcy administrator Augusto Fantozzi warned that […]
Lehman, AIG, Merrill: Is this December 1930?
September 15th, 2008Via: BBC: I am writing this in Washington at 3.33 am GMT. There’s been a dramatic day on Wall Street and it’s not even open (actually they had to open trading this afternoon to clear the decks for tomorrow’s potential meltdown). Here’s what we know so far: 1. The US government has refused to put […]
AIG, FACING LIQUIDITY CRISIS, SEEKS FED LIFELINE
September 15th, 2008Via: Reuters: Insurer American International Group Inc, working to stave off rating downgrades and shore up the capital of its holding company, has made an unprecedented approach to the Federal Reserve seeking $40 billion in short-term financing, the New York Times said. Chief Executive Robert Willumstad reached out to the Fed late on Sunday, according […]
