Credit Writedowns

US data have been disappointing.  The weekly initial jobless claim increase has been followed by a weaker than expected ISM manufacturing report.  The ISM fell to 56.2 from 59.7. The consensus had anticipated a smaller decline to…

From the IMF to the G20, from bloggers to Nobel prize winning economists, there have been calls for the major developed countries to reduce deficits and stabilize debt to GDP ratios.  The idea is that if this is done properly it need…

From the BEA. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would have been, on average, 2.7 percent, or $301.5 billion higher between 1998 and 2007 if research and development (R&D) spending was treated as investment in the U.S. national income and…

Highlights The US dollar is mostly lower.   The euro is the strongest of the majors, gaining across the board.  The week’s high was set on Monday just below $1.24 and unless this is taken out, it simply seems like range…

Another one from David Rosenberg before I end it for the night...seriously. This one is from his morning piece, but it applies equally well now: THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE The needle, in this sense, is the equity market, and the…

The U.S. long bond yield is edging lower with each and every passing day, and now stands below 3.90%. At the same time, we cannot help but notice the huge gap that still exists between 10s and 30s — nearly 100 basis points. There is…

On Monday when I wrote Why Stimulus Is No Panacea, I mentioned that I had written two posts in the past entitled "It's the debt, stupid" (read them here and here). Just as the Clintonites of 1992 pointed to the economy as the…

Joseph J. Cassano, head of what was formerly an obscure 400 employee division of American International Group (AIG) with main offices in London, called AIG Financial Products (AIG-FP), testified today before the FCIC (Financial Crisis…

A post on the latest economics debates by Claus Vistesen Steve Waldman has a very good post this week about the folly about the austerity vs non-austerity discussion which seems to be going the rounds at the moment. In fact, it you take a…

While most people are tuned in to the failure of the ruling coalition in Germany to get their man Christian Wulff elected president, there are other more important numbers out today. Unemployment in Germany fell to 7.5% in the last month.…