From the monthly archives:
That’s what I’m left wondering when I read stories like this one,entitled “Bailout scope limited to … virtually anything.” Here’s an excerpt …
“As the list of ailing companies seeking government help grows, it is anybody’s guess where the Treasury Department’slargesse will stop.
“The $700 billion bailout bill is so vague that virtually any U.S. company could [...]
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The credit virus just keeps spreading, and with each new outbreak of disease,various government agencies are forced to respond. The government is now talking about allowing insurance companies toget their hands on billions in bailout money. Here’s anexcerpt from the Washington Post:
“The Treasury Department is working on ways to broaden its $700 billion bank rescue [...]
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Every day, it seems like events in some far corner of the world come back to haunt the markets. Many of us here inthe U.S. may not pay attention to these events, but we should. I talked about Iceland a while back, and how thatcountry’s currency, stock, and banking crises would have repercussions here in [...]
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There’s nothing like trying to get your voice heard when you’re just one of eight in an “Octobox” on TV. But ifyou’re interested, I shared some thoughts on the housingmarket today in just such a segment earlier on CNBC. Here’s the link.
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A lot of economic data hit the tape today, and it all tells the same story: It’s ugly out there. While initialjobless claims dipped to 461,000 from 477,000 a week earlier, continuing claims rose to 3.711 million from 3.671million, the most since June 2003. Net inflows into U.S. assets also came in at just $14 [...]
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Amidst all the $250 billion bailout hoopla, and the previous news that the government will buy up both whole loansand Mortgage Backed Securities, in an effort to drive financing costs DOWN, something interesting is going on — and Idon’t see many people talking about it. Home mortgage rates aren’t falling. They’re going UP.
The average rate [...]
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It’s a busy day on the global markets front. So let’s get right to the news …
* U.S. dollar LIBOR rates generally rose again, with 3-month LIBOR up 3 basis points to 4.32%. That is just shy of lastFriday’s cycle high of 4.33%. Overnight LIBOR jumped to 3.94% from 2.37%, though that is still below [...]
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If you think our credit market conditions are tight, get a load of what’s happeningin Iceland. The exchange rate of the Iceland krona against the U.S. dollar has plunged in recent weeks. Eachdollar now buys about 113 krona, up from 58 back at the recent low in November 2007. The krona has dropped 22%this week alone to [...]
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