ShareI have been reading press accounts of the GM decision to back out of the Opel/Vauxhall sale to the Magna/Sberbank consortium from various countries. There are a lot of different perspectives on this event in the U.S., Belgium, Spain, Germany, Russia, the U.K and elsewhere, because a lot of players are involved.
The conclusion I [...]

ShareNils Pratley’s piece at the Guardian on RBS and Lloyds is very good.  Two quotes sum up the situation quite well.
First, in regards to Lloyds, Pratley says:
Royal Bank of Scotland’s shares down almost 20% in two days; Lloyds’s shares an oasis of tranquillity. Those market reactions tell the story of the banking bailout part 3, [...]

ShareLloyds are looking to avoid the embrace of government by going to existing shareholders to raise capital and sidestep the draconian break-up solution foisted upon RBS by Neelie Kroes. According to Bloomberg, this is the largest rights issue ever for a British company and equates to $34 billion.
All of this must be excruciating for Lloyds [...]

ShareAt the weekend I wrote about Alistair Darling’s about-face on breaking up to big to fail financial institutions. Apparently, this was not a case of labour changing tack and finding regulatory religion, but rather of the European Union imposing its will on the British government. The EU is also dictating policy in Germany, the Netherlands [...]

ShareIn a clear break with US economic policy, the UK government have decided that too big to fail is too big to exist. As a result, three large financial institutions now owned at least in part by government are to be dismantled. Moreover, talk of Tesco’s or Virgin getting the assets is yet another momentous [...]

ShareThe Nationwide monthly index of house prices came in this morning showing a 0.4% bump in October from September. While this was less than last month’s 0.9% rise, it was the sixth consecutive month of price increases and it marked the first time in two years that house price in the U.K. were higher year-on-year. [...]

ShareWhen it comes to the housing meltdowns in the richest economies, the US has been matched only by Spain, Ireland and the UK. All four countries have seen spectacular losses of wealth in the housing sector over the last two years.
The response by all four governments was to apply as much stimulus as they reasonably [...]

We received word today from the British government that GDP in the UK contracted for a record sixth quarter in Q3 2009. I like Neil Hume’s headline on this one, “GDP shock flop.”

ShareIf our response focuses only on the symptoms rather than the underlying causes of the crisis, then we shall bequeath to future generations a serious risk of another crisis even worse than the one we have experienced.
-Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England

The Bank of England head has come out unequivocally against continuing with [...]

ShareFurther proof that the reflationary efforts of policy makers is taking hold comes from London in the form of record high house prices.  The Guardian reports:
Property asking prices in London have broken through the record high set in November 2007 as the drought of homes for sale around the country continues to distort the market. [...]