Monthly Archives: October 2009
Wilbur Ross Warns of “Huge” Commercail Real Estate Crash
Wilbur Ross – who became known as the “King of Bankruptcy” earning billions on his ability to restructure failing companies – said today that the US is about to enter into a “huge crash in commercial real estate”. Continue reading
BOJ to End QE Program!
The Japanese yen (JPY) is strengthening today as the Bank of Japan announced it will stop buying corporate debt by the end of this year. This essentially means that they will stop flooding the market with yen, which in turn means supply will be less, which should translate into higher yen values. JPY is up today, most notably against the commodity currencies. What’s going to be interesting is how far the BOJ will let the yen strengthen before the talks of intervention begin to surface again. There is still lingering deflation in Japan, so don’t expect an interest rate hike anytime soon. However, Japan appears to be emerging from the recession as unemployment has fallen to a 4-month low and household spending has impoved. But a strong yen affects Japanese exports so it will be interesting to see the battle between the philosophies of the BOJ and the finance ministry play out Continue reading
Canada’s GDP Shrinks!
Canadian GDP unexpectedly fell .1%, vs. Continue reading
US Consumer Spending Down 0.5%
The US Commerce Department said this morning that consumer spending fell 0.5 percent in September – the largest single month fall in nine months. While the overall economy grew in the quarter ending in September, government spending programs and other initiatives helped inflate the results, and once the programs wound down, consumers immediately cut back. Continue reading
Eurozone Unemployment Jumps to 9.7%
Unemployment in the Eurozone climbed to 9.7 percent in September compared to 9.2 percent for the entire European Union. This brings the total number of unemployed people in the Eurozone to 15.3 million Continue reading
Fiscal Steroids Programs Promote Risk and Carry Trades.
What happened to ‘natural organic growth without a fiscal steroids program’? Capital Markets don’t care that most of yesterday’s US GDP strength can be attributed to incentive packages Continue reading
Geithner Sees Positive Signs for Economy
While testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said be sees signs that the economy is recovering. However, he warned that the recession remains “alive and acute” for those dealing with unemployment. Associated Press Continue reading
Roubini Says Beware the Carry Trade Asset Bubble
Dr. Doom – AKA New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini – is at it again. The man who is credited with being the first to point to the questionable lending practices that ultimately led to the housing bubble and the global recession, is now taking dead aim at what he believes is setting the stage for the next financial crisis – a US dollar asset bubble Continue reading
Roubini Says Beware the Carry Trade Asset Bubble
Dr. Doom – AKA New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini – is at it again. The man who is credited with being the first to point to the questionable lending practices that ultimately led to the housing bubble and the global recession, is now taking dead aim at what he believes is setting the stage for the next financial crisis – a US dollar asset bubble. Continue reading
US New Jobless Claims Falls Less Than Expected
The US Labor Department announced today that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell less than expected last week. The official total of newly-unemployed was down by 1,000 from the previous week to 530,000 – analysts predicted a better result of 521,000. Associated Press Continue reading