Category: Credit Crisis 2008
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Wednesday, November 19, 2008
U.S. Economy Reflation Challenge and LIBOR Deceptive Manipulation / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2008
A major challenge looms large on the immediate horizon. The US Economy must be reflated in order to avoid collapse. Debts have become a crippling factor. Liquidation of speculative trades coincides with economic retreat, and hedge funds are under attack by their creditors (largely Wall Street firms) while major companies shed workers by the tens of thousands. When asked about economic prospects, a standard answer lately of mine has been to observe important signals not of recession but of potential disintegration.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
G20 Summit Fails to Achieve Anything of Substance / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
As expected, the G-20 Economic Summit in Washington turned out to be a total bust. None of the problems which have pushed the global economy to the brink of disaster were resolved and none of the main players who gamed the system with their toxic securities were held accountable. Instead, the visiting dignitaries gorged themselves on stuffed quail and roast rack of lamb before settling on a toothless "Statement on Financial Markets" which accomplished absolutely nothing. The one noteworthy clause in the entire document is a two paragraph indictment of the United States as the perpetrator of the financial crisis. At least they got that right.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Iceland Savings Account Freeze Thaws as G20 Meet / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
The G20 leaders showed a united front as they pledged to shore up global growth, introduce regulatory reform in a relatively short timeframe and avoid protectionism. However, the timeframe for resolution of these reforms is as soon as March 31st. Success will hinge on the new US Administration's willingness to take big decisions, a mere 2 months after taking office. US analysts think that it will make more sense to try and overcome the crisis first before implementing far-reaching reforms. These reforms include efforts to strengthen the credit derivative markets, create colleges of national supervisors to monitor global banks and provide guidance for valuation of illiquid securities. There will be a follow up summit on April 30th, probably in London.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Brutal Truth About the Credit Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Mike Larson writes: I don't know about you. But I started keeping a mental “Outrage List” a while back. The idea: Chronicle all the ridiculous statistics, all the lies, all the questionable practices, and all the dubious “rescue packages” Wall Street and Washington keep shoveling onto the public's lap.
And boy oh boy, is it getting long these days!
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Sunday, November 16, 2008
G-20 Summit Politicians Blame Investors For Credit Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Hopes were high that the G-20 summit would issue a statement on US dollar hegemony, currency fluctuations, a new world order, a return to a gold standard, or make some other earth shattering statement. I predicted the summit would be a complete waste of time. Let's take a look.Bloomberg is reporting G-20 Calls for Action on Growth, Regulatory Changes .
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government Failures / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Speaking of the financial crisis, French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently said, “Laissez-faire is finished. The all-powerful market that always knows best is finished.” Sarkozy was echoing the views of many, including president-elect Obama, who assume that the financial crisis was caused by free markets--by “unbridled greed” unleashed by decades of deregulation and a “hands off” approach to the economy. And given this premise, the solution, they say, is obvious.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Your FDIC Backed Bank Could Fail, Discover the Safest U.S. Banks / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
With big bank bailouts dominating the news, there's no better time to get the truth about bank safety.
This informative article has been excerpted from Bob Prechter's New York Times bestseller Conquer the Crash . Unlike recent news articles that are responding to the banking crisis, it was published in 2002 before anyone was even talking about bank safety. However, you may find the information even more valuable today than ever before.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Credit Crisis Eases as Interbank Rates Hit Multi-year Lows / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2008
Although signs of easing credit strains are manifested in multi-year lows in interbank rates, the market turmoil has exasperated the already shaky cash situation of US auto manufacturers, retailers and shippers, forcing fresh waves of nation-wide layoffs, which would only feed off the negative loop from rising employment, falling consumption, lower earnings and eroding bank credit. Consequently, JPY retains the last word over the USD, while both low yielding currencies dominate dealing flows against European and antipodean FX as Asian and European markets are mired in prolonged downside, failing to break Mondays sell-off in the US.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Credit Crisis Worse to Come as Bank Credit Contracts / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Can the credit crisis get any worse? In this week's Outside the Box my London partner Niels Jensen shows that it indeed can. Banks, and mainly European banks, have large exposure to emerging market debt of all types through both sovereign, corporate and individual loans. Just as banks have had to write down large losses from the subprime crisis and other related problems, next will come a wave of potential losses from yet another source. Niels then goes on to give us a look the size and problems with hedge fund deleveraging. Altogether, this is a very interesting letter and one that is written from a non-US point of view that I think you will find instructive.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Credit Crisis Tentacles Spread to Every Sector of Finance Market / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Finally there is a 100% consensus between economists, experts, journalists, and government officials that restoring interbank lending will restore the stability of the financial system and will reignite economic growth. Too bad, the consensus has gotten again all wrong. This is a pure myth and nothing can be further from the truth.
The grim reality is very different and already forgotten. The reality is that most markets for the majority of financial instruments have collapsed completely and reviving interbank lending will not resurrect any of those markets. In other words, resolving the problem of interbank lending will not help the economy in any way. It is like an air balloon that has deflated and we desperately need to reflate it again with helium, but we are told that even ordinary cold air will lift it off the ground; since the balloon is stubbornly stuck on the ground, we are told we simply need more air!
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Sunday, November 09, 2008
Reaping the Derivatives Mania Whirlwind / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
"Reaping the whirlwind" for money manager and market strategist Jeremy Grantham in his latest no-nonsense commentary. Worlds different from most in the mainstream. Cheerleaders in upturns. Downplaying risks. Soft-pedaling reversals and still many in denial about the severity of today's crisis. The virtual certainty of a deep and protracted recession. The likely emergence of a changed world order at its end - for better or worse. The result of what Grantham calls "the poisonous wind we all sowed," and went on to explain it with his customary thoughtful analysis. Calling it like he sees it as one of the earliest to spot the current storm. Even though it arrived sooner and with more severity than he imagined. In that respect, it fooled some of the best and brightest but no longer the ones most credible.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, November 08, 2008
The Impact of Deleveraging on Economic Growth / Economics / Credit Crisis 2008
- The Problems of Deleveraging
- 1.2 Million Jobs and Counting
- Be Careful of Geeks Bearing Recovery Data
- Back to 1982
In general, we consider it a good thing to save money and to "owe no man anything save love." But what happens when a debt-happy society wakes up and decides that saving is a good thing for everybody? What happens when banks and hedge funds decide (or are forced) to reduce their debt? What happens when businesses of all sizes find it harder to get loans to operate?
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Friday, November 07, 2008
Will Fortune Favour the Brave in This Crisis Investment Climate? / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
OVERVIEW - FORTUNE is said to favour the brave, but is it bold or foolhardy to venture back yet into bombed-out equity and other financial markets? A panel of investment veterans assembled by The Business Times was of the view, on balance, that now is indeed the time to be venturing back into the markets, although one expert was bearish to the point of suggesting that financial markets could yet be brought to a standstill by confusion over the valuation of assets. There was a consensus too that the worst is by no means over yet for the global macro-economy.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
More from the Front Lines of the Financial Crisis / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
In its latest economic outlook, Merrill Lynch economists "worry about inflation, or more precisely," a lack of it. From crashing global equity markets, falling commodity prices, rising unemployment, stagnant wages, over-indebted households, declining production, the continuing housing crisis, and more. All pointing to several future quarters of negative growth. Showing that Fed chairman Bernanke will face "his greatest fear: deflation." An analysis of the coincident to lagging indicators signals "deep recession."Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 03, 2008
Fed's Tough Balancing Act Between Inflation and Deflation / Economics / Credit Crisis 2008
Save me – I'm sure that's exactly the sentiment many hedge fund managers share today. Why would this be? Answer: Because as Doug Noland aptly puts it in his regular column this week, The Arb Game Is Over , meaning that on a macro-basis the larger speculation / credit cycles have turned lower; and, they will continue to fall for some time, taking many an unaware hedge fund manager with them. In fact, and to be more blunt about it, the cash strapped hedge fund industry has likely also topped with the larger credit cycle, where increasing redemptions necessitate margin contraction on an accelerating basis. In this regard it should be noted aggregate margin debt levels remain high, meaning no matter what policy measures are taken to stem the tide, authorities are just pushing on a string. Of course this is not a problem in my estimation, as you will read further below.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, November 01, 2008
The Financial Crisis Next Shoe to Drop / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
To many, things are starting to look rosier. Bank liquidity flows are starting to improve ... not great, but showing some improvement.
At the same time ... Bush knows it hasn't been enough of an improvement, so he warned banks that they better start opening up the lending spigots. Banks are afraid, risk averse, and resisting. Twenty five percent of "excellent credit rating borrowers" are being declined when trying to get a new car loan. Next, I expect that Bush will push the bank Regulatory Agencies to put a lot of pressure on banks to start lending.
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Thursday, October 30, 2008
Financial and Geopolitical Forecasts for Fourth Quarter 2008 / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Dear Friends: Really hear what I'm about to tell you. The center of gravity of the world economic system has moved from New York to Washington. Let me illustrate what I mean so you understand just how profound this is. Banks used to compete against banks. US carmakers competed against each other and the Japanese. And the New York financial markets told you how they're doing against each other.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Financial and Economic Crisis Save Havens for Investors / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Martin Hutchinson writes: It must now be horribly clear to everybody with an investment portfolio – indeed, to anyone who watches the financial markets – that no country or sector is safe from a bear market of the magnitude of the one we're suffering through right now. When stocks get marked down en masse, as they have, literally everything drops. What's more, there may be very little rationale for which stocks drop — or how much they drop by: When the wave of selling meets very few buyers, good stocks can easily fall more than bad ones.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Deflation Monster Coming as Credit Losses Far Exceed Capital Injections / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
This week an Occasional Letter From The Collection Agency looks at what might be on the horizon as we peer into the macro-economic future. As ever we start with a reminder of the scenario that I have been following over the past 6 years or more:
bubble, easy money, inflation in fiat money supply, inflation in commodities and hard assets, inflation, fear of inflation, rising rates, YC inverting, flattening, rising and inverting again, tightening, withdrawal of liquidity, corrections, crashes, talk of stagflation, FEAR, withdrawal of speculative funds, further corrections and crashes, demand collapse.......Deflation.
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Friday, October 24, 2008
Financial Crisis Turning Into an Economic Crisis / Economics / Credit Crisis 2008
With all of the chaos in financial markets, and also commodities, how are the USD and the Euro affected and also the precious metals?
Well, first of all, we need the proper context of this world market situation. We are in the middle of a super world crash. These take a year to get into full swing. They develop over time. Minding that, realize that we may not see the worst for another year for the world stock markets. We are in the midst of a crash.
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