“Investors are taking losses of up to 90% in the $1.2 trillion market for collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) tied to corporate credit,” reports Bloomberg. Much of the losses have been triggered by the failure of Lehman Brothers and Icelandic bank.
Both gold and silver were pretty quiet in Far East trading on Thursday morning. The London open gave no indication that prices were going to work their way slowly higher going into the Comex open. But about an hour before New York opened for business, gold and silver started going parabolic…and then went vertical on the Comex (AMEX: IAU) open.
Why housebuilders are demanding state hand-outs… More hilarity in the housing industry this weekend. Builders are now demanding state help. As housing sales have collapsed, the construction industry faces mass redundancies, while house builders themselves have seen their share prices dive.
When is a Black Swan not a Black Swan? When the “perfect storm of highly improbable events” happens all the time.
Today’s headlines look pretty horrible. House prices have suffered their biggest annual fall since the early 1990s, says the Nationwide.
Life’s about to get much tougher…for all of us…It’s that R-word again. Loose talk of a ‘recession’ has been bandied about for some time, particularly amongst those of us who keep a keen eye on what’s happening in both the money markets and the high street.
A spritely performance from “Old Europe” – France and Germany – helped Eurozone growth exceed expectations in the first quarter.
There is apparently a “great private banking myth” out there.
A cashless society is a great idea, but new data form Britain reveals that we’re a long way off cashless living.
According to The Independent newspaper, British shoppers spent £5bn ($10bn) more in notes and coins last year, challenging the long-held view that Britain is becoming a cashless society.
A survey suggests the value of cash as a proportion of total spending rose from 32 to 34 per cent, the first reversal of a two-decade trend.
“It’s one of those days where nothing much seems to be happening,” I said as I sat down at our morning meeting. Boy was I wrong!