Corporate Default Rates Expected To Soar
The damage of the recession is beginning to move from the financial sector to other parts of the economy. According to the FT, "The Markit iTraxx Crossover index rose above 1,000 basis points for…
Economy
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Newest first · Page 398The Recesssion Metastasizes To The Bone
There are a lot of pieces of data about what is happening to the economy, perhaps too many to make any sense of them. In the last day or so, two stand out. One…
Beige Book: Depression, Recession
All districts showed weakness… weakening labor, weak exports, weak housing, commercial real estate declines, lower housing prices, weak retail, mining and energy down, wage pressure subdued, lower manufacturing…. You already know most of this. …
How The Bailout Money Is Spent: It Was Your Day To Watch Paulson
The wonderful and extraordinary thing about big federal spending programs is that the government does not have enough people to keep track of how the money is used. Grifters are everywhere. So are the…
Bernanke Could Do More To Help Economy, But Hasn’t Bothered
Gradualism may end up being the failing global economy’s worst enemy. Many analysts don’t think that the Paulson plan’s $700 billion war chest was enough. Obama’s economic team may have to go back to…
The Government’s Recession Versus Your Recession
As if you did not notice, the US economy is in a recession. We have been maintaining that for just about the whole of 2008. Now today we have the official data from the…
The Manufacturing Recession Gets Worse
The ISM Manufacturing report was as dismal as one could expect and definitely well into the recession levels for those who have been on the fence. The Institute for Supply Management showed that manufacturing…
Another Set Of Numbers Shows Failing Global Economy
The UN’s report on World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 contains almost no good news. According to Reuters, "World economic growth will slow to 1 percent in 2009 from 2.5 percent this year as…
No More Credit Cards: GDP Bleeds Out
There is something to be said for giving nearly everyone a lot of access to credit when the economy and real estate values are improving. If consumers don’t have a ready way to find…
Recession Watch: Jobs, Durables, Income, Spending
If you were looking for good news before the holiday, you might need to look at retail discounts for retail or might want to read some nice childrens’ books. The economic data does not…
Paulson Tells Insurance Companies That There Is No Room At The Inn
Since almost every sector of the economy from autos to cities is asking Henry Paulson for a bit of his $700 billion fund, why should the insurance companies be any different? They are different…
Paulson’s New Program: Giving People Money They Can’t Afford To Spend
The news is as old as the Magna Carta. The consumer is broke. He does not have a dime. He is out of work. He is defaulting on his home equity loan, and the…
Hedge Funds To Dump Another $200 Billion In Assets
One of the culprits that analysts point to as a cause of the falling stock market is hedge funds which have to pay back money owed to banks and cover redemptions by their shareholders.…
Goldman Sachs (GS) Sees 9% Unemployment And 5% GDP Contaction
According to Bloomberg, "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its recession estimates, saying gross domestic product is declining at a 5 percent annual rate in the current quarter and will drop 3 percent and 1…
Rallying Back From The Depths Of Hell
The market has to rally something, and this is as good as any. The DJIA has fallen from 13,850 less than a year ago to 7,552. The idea that Citigroup (C) may be for…