After 10 years of 7% growth, the Russian economy is set for a serious setback. The video below lays out some of the details.

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This comes from Austrian Daily Kurier:
A plan to stabilise the economies of Eastern Europe exists. What is missing is a united EU.
During and after the Eastern Europe tour by Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Josef Pröll, the Ministry always profusely denied that there was a plan to support the new [EU] countries. The talk was [...]

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This comes from S&P’s website (pdf):
Data through December 2008, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the prices of existing single family homes across the United States continue to set record declines, a trend that prevailed throughout all of 2007 and [...]

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Tangible Common Equity… – Option ARMageddon
Argentina’s Industrial Output Fell Most Since 2001 – Bloomberg.com

Lonmin to cut 5 500 jobs – Fin24 South Africa

Hairy Lips Sink Ships – Bill Gross, PIMCO
Now What for the Big Banks?: Interview with Nouriel Roubini – Chris Whalen
Why Doesn’t the Government Own Citigroup Outright? – Dean Baker

The Big Five Trends – [...]

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Chris Whalen, a well-regarded bank analyst, ran an interview piece with Nouriel Roubini on Barry Ritholtz’s site. The conversation was very illuminating and I highly recommend reading the whole post linked below. However, I wanted to point out a quote from Chris in the piece that I find significant in light of the recent dividend [...]

Denmark’s 11th largest bank, Fionia Bank, has collapsed after massive writedowns of 1.2 billion Danish kroner. However, the company will not face liquidation. According to Politiken, Instead of bankruptcy, Fionia’s assets will be transferred to a newly incorporated banking company.

In advertising campaigns, Fionia had dubbed itself the “bank of your future.” Despite the obvious, the bank’s chairman insists the future is still bright and all is well.

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Fellow econblogger Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon was on Bloomberg TV and radio today telling folks what all of this credit crisis, bear market, nationalization stuff really means for globalization, the U.S. and stocks.  He recently wrote a book on this very topic called “When Giants Fall.”
He is not at all upbeat about the prospects [...]

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 both closed at levels not seen in nearly twelve years. Despite a ‘bailout rally’ for the financials in the morning, the day was marked by heavy selling with the Dow down to 714 and the S&P ending the session at 743.

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From the Financial Post:
American Express Co., the largest U.S. credit-card company by purchases, is paying some cardholders US$300 each to close accounts so the lender can reduce the risk of defaults as the recession deepens.
People who got the offer to “simplify” their finances must pay off their entire credit-card balance by April 30, according to [...]

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From MarketWatch:

J.P. Morgan Chase said late Monday that its board cut the company’s quarterly dividend to 5 cents from 38 cents, effective for the dividend payable April 30. “The board anticipates maintaining this level for the time being. This action will enable the company to retain an additional $5 billion in common equity per year,” [...]