Archive for the 'Economy' Category
U.S. Housing Collapse Spreads Overseas
April 14th, 2008Via: IHT: The collapse of the housing bubble in the United States is mutating into a global phenomenon, with real estate prices down from the Irish countryside and the Spanish coast to Baltic seaports and even in parts of India. This synchronized global slowdown, which has become increasingly stark in recent months, is hobbling economic […]
U.S. Lenders Freeze Home Equity Credit Lines
April 14th, 2008Via: IHT: It was the lending institutions and mortgage originators that got the United States into this credit mess, but it is the American consumers, taxpayers and those companies’ shareholders who will end up shouldering most of the costs. The latest example of this is in the mass freezing of home equity lines of credit […]
U.S. Banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch Reveal Fresh $15 Billion Loss, Deutsche Bank Holding More Toxic Waste on Balance Sheet than Shares Are Worth
April 13th, 2008HAHA Another weekend of financial news so horrific that it can’t be revealed during market hours. Remember, I’m taking a break from using the EMERGENCY designation when it comes to this type of news. This is the new normal. I guess we should get used to it. Via: Times Online: CITIGROUP and Merrill Lynch will […]
Allegations that Speculators Are Colluding, Attempting to Crash Iceland for Profit
April 12th, 2008“This isn’t a free market; it’s a black magic trick, involving supercomputers, psychological operations and lots and lots of leverage.” —CBOT Resembles Carnival Act as Billion Dollar Black Box Operators Move In Full text follows. Via: Financial Times: On a gloomy North Atlantic evening in January, a group of international hedge fund managers gathered in […]
Firms Packaging Unsellable, Toxic Waste Corporate Loans Into “Collateral” In Order to Borrow More Money from the Fed
April 11th, 2008“We Americans were very clever.” Via: Bloomberg: Wall Street firms may be bundling high-yield, high-risk corporate loans into securities to use as collateral to borrow from the U.S. government, according to a report by Morgan Stanley analysts. Securities firms can borrow against collateralized loan obligations at the Federal Reserve’s Primary Dealer Credit Facility, the analysts […]
GE: Big Earnings Miss
April 11th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: General Electric Co. reported its first decline in quarterly profit since 2003, missing analysts’ estimates with a 12 percent drop in earnings as a freeze in credit markets blocked asset sales and forced it to write down the value of investments. The world’s third-largest company by market value fell as much as 12 […]
Wall Street’s Banks May Cut 35% of Jobs
April 10th, 2008Anyone need a used Porsche? Via: Bloomberg: Kenneth Moelis, the former president of UBS AG’s investment bank, said Wall Street firms may have to eliminate as much as 35 percent of employees as leveraged lending dwindles and the pace of mergers and acquisitions slows. “The Street got staffed up to support what was a slight […]
IMF: U.S. Crisis is ‘Largest Financial Shock since Great Depression’
April 10th, 2008Hold on to your wallet. Via: Guardian: America’s mortgage crisis has spiralled into “the largest financial shock since the Great Depression” and there is now a one-in-four chance of a full-blown global recession over the next 12 months, the International Monetary Fund warned today. The US is already sliding into what the IMF predicts will […]
Major Banks in Trouble
April 8th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Bank holding companies including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. have the thinnest safety cushion against losses in seven years. The margin may erode further in coming weeks. Credit ratings on $704 billion of bonds have been cut this year following the collapse of the U.S. housing market. […]
New Zealand to Accelerate the Exportation of Its Remaining Top Soil to China
April 8th, 2008Kiwis will get even cheaper jandles in return. Bargains. Sorry, I don’t feel like looking at this one squarely in the eyes right now. It’s too grim, and too close to home. Via: New Zealand Herald: Helen Clark said the free trade agreement opened the door for New Zealand business to step up the pace […]
