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I have had a number of posts on mark-to-market accounting in the recent past.  Most recently, the posts have suggested that accounting is going to be favourable to banks and their quest to present a well-capitalized face to the world (see the post “JPMorgan’s $29 Billion windfall”).
A reader who deals with accounting issues has seen [...]

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This is the assessment of den Danske Bank as reported by Edward Hugh.  The last time I mentioned the Baltics was on May 12th in my post “A bearish view on Eastern Europe.”  I ended saying the Scandinavian banks’ exposure to the Baltics is just as worrying and should be the place to watch before [...]

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If you thought jobless claims would fall off rapidly after a peak was made, you were mistaken because we seem to be in a holding pattern above 600,000.  The weekly report for unemployment insurance claims in the U.S. showed 623,000 filing a claim, with a record 6.8 million people still on unemployment insurance.  Now, mind [...]

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I was on the BBC yesterday talking autos and my commentary was almost entirely political.  So, as we await the likely General Motors bankruptcy, I think it bears discussing how political this process has been and will continue to be.
General Motors is a monster company employing a quarter million people worldwide.  It sells $150 billion [...]

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Meredith Whitney Offers Measured Hope To Brown Youth, Professes To Hate Coed Bathrooms – Dealbreaker
When is Dartmouth going to put me on its cover? You know, I was all set to go to Brown too but the whole co-ed bathroom thing freaked me out a little too. Kind of schizo going from Brown to Dartmouth [...]

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You have to hand it to Marc Faber; he knows how to grab your attention. Earlier this year, I posted a video of him saying “don’t underestimate the power of printing money“, a quote that has become mantra for me.  Basically, he believes a rising tide of quantitative easing is going to buoy stock markets [...]

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GM Bondholders are not happy about the GM deal because the government seems to be running the same scheme where senior bondholders get a serious haircut while other constituents like the union and the federal government get more.  Chrysler set a precedent, so bondholders are likely to hold out, GM will go bankrupt and then [...]

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In the wake of the huge consumer confidence number that caused U.S. markets to rally yesterday, Marc Faber is still singing from the same songbook that I am: delayed end to the recession and a weak recovery. See the video below.
The video also mentions the fact that Nouriel Roubini is in this camp. [...]

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On the face of it, Nationwide’s earnings report looks extremely good: 15% Tier 1 Capital, Pre-tax profit of nearly £400 million.  Given this financial institution’s leverage to the residential housing market, their results stand in stark contrast to the likes of Chelsea, which was downgraded by Fitch last week with four other U.K. building societies.  [...]

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Obama’s Pick, From The Start – Marc Armbinder
“The process ended where the President started. In November, a few days after he was elected President, Barack Obama convened some of his most trusted advisers in a private meeting for an even more closely-held topic. He wanted to talk about the Supreme Court. Obama arrived, armed with [...]