2 July 2009

Wow.  The Feds sure know how to celebrate Independence Day.  I went out for a couple of hours and four more banks were seized bringing the grand total to seven for the day and 52 on the year. Here are all the FDIC seizures for…

This is the press release from the FDIC.  Deposits of only $75 million.  Small banks are seized, big banks get bailed out, of course. Rock River Bank, Oregon, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial…

When we saw the Case-Shiller data for April on Tuesday, I noted that New York was the most overpriced metro area in the Composite-20 as prices there were still 70% above January 2000 levels.  This is changing fast.  Bloomberg…

Another tiny little bank. Deposits of $34 million. The First State Bank of Winchester, Winchester, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking, which appointed the…

This is number 46 this year. Very small.  Why not wait?  Holiday weekend? The John Warner Bank, Clinton, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking,…

Let’s say you’re an American named Maria living in Southern California.  The year is 2006.  You make $45,000 and your husband David makes another $40,000.  You have two children aged six and four and your two-bedroom apartment is getting…

The labor market in the United States lost 467,00 jobs in June.  But this was just the headline number as unemployment rose to 9.5%.  Unfortunately, the deep dive shows a situation that mirrors this weakness. Establishment Survey…

The U.S. Department of Labor released the latest data for unemployment insurance as it does every Thursday at 830ET.  The seasonally adjusted numbers reported were 614,000 initial claims and 6.702 million continuing claims. While this…

Now, Bill Gross, the Bond King, knows that bonds go up in price when bad economic data comes out.  So, leaving aside the desire to talk one’s own book, I think Gross makes a number of good points on CNBC about the unemployment data…

Here is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the situation. THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JUNE 2009 Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.5 percent,…