News round-up: 29 July 2008

Japan Jobless Rate Rises to 4.1%, Highest Since 2006 – Bloomberg

Plan to revive mortgage lending – BBC News (Is an American-style bailout in the offing in the UK?)

Merrill’s $5.7B Write-Down, $8.5B Share Issuance – Big Picture (interesting take on writedowns at Merrill)

The Downfall of a California Dreamer – NY Times (good article on IndyMac)

South African Credit Growth Accelerates to 20.3% – Bloomberg (its not just the U.S. and Europe)

ANZ warns of drop in full-year earnings – FT (writedown pain spread to down under)

How Merrills dragged NAB into an $830m writedown – Crikey (hat tip Yves Smith)

Higher oil price boosts BP profit – BBC News

America’s house price time bomb – BBC News (negative equity like this won’t be solved by bailouts)

An Examination of WaMu – Russ Winter

Amid EU Expansion, Limited Migration – Real Time Economics (language barrier makes EU labor market migration tough)

IMF sees no end in sight to credit crisis – Sydney Morning Herald (note the real economy negative feedback loop I have warned of)

Einhorn Expects More Pain Before a Recovery – Deal Book (Is Einhorn talking his own book?)

Odds & Ends
Text messaging charge spurs class-action suit – National Post