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We stumbled upon this interesting chart from the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s 2011 Annual report which shows the share of owner equity in household real estate. It surprised us, not so much in that it is at record lows, but that…

Our macro takeaway from the call is that Europe is rolling over. No normal September bounce from the seasonally slow August. The company also notes what they see as a temporary slowdown in China. Alcoa missed and the stock got hammered…

In October 1993, when Andreas Papandreou was re-elected as prime minister, Greece's liabilities exceeded 100 percent of gross domestic product. The national debt was 114 percent of gross domestic product. Inflation was more than 14 percent…

A chart which breaks down the job losses and gains by industry

Another informative chart from the IMF showing the fundamental problem in Europe’s banking system - excessive leverage and dependence on wholesale funding. Add to that overexposure to highly indebted sovereigns with deteriorating credit…

Today’s Yum! Brands’ earnings conference call was dominated by China. Management talked a lot about commodity inflation running around 8 percent and 20% labor inflation, which they do not yet see abating. This doesn’t square with the…

We forgot to post this yesterday. The macro issues raised by GM in their September sales conference call. All are direct quotes from GM management.

The media and some pseudo-analysts, and, surprisingly, even some investors, still don’t understand what the 21 percent haircut in the Greece bond restructuring is all about. The 21 percent touted about is simply the hypothetical…

The world is experiencing the adverse consequences of negative real interest rates and yet the monetary policy prescription of choice is for more negative real interest rates.

The consequences of negative real interest rates and financial repression. We know how this story ends. Keep this one on your radar.