Weekend Weimar and Beagle

I finally got an IPhone recently and I am totally hooked. The IPhone has a camera (like practically every other electronic device out there now) so I have been snapping pictures of my dogs.This is Kate, a 13 year old female. She is sitting on the Weimar couch. This is Sarge, who is, well, lounging.This is a Beagle picture, in honor of the future...

Read More

Weekend Weimar and Beagle

I finally got an IPhone recently and I am totally hooked. The IPhone has a camera (like practically every other electronic device out there now) so I have been snapping pictures of my dogs.This is Kate, a 13 year old female. She is sitting on the Weimar couch. This is Sarge, who is, well, lounging.This is a Beagle picture, in honor of the future...

Read More

Personal Consumption Expenditures Up .2%

From the AP:Consumers, battered by a slumping housing market and a credit crunch, slowed the growth in spending to the smallest amount in four months.The Commerce Department reported Friday that consumer spending edged up 0.2 percent in October, the weakest showing since a similar increase in June. Individual incomes grew by just 0.2 percent last month,...

Read More

Personal Consumption Expenditures Up .2%

From the AP:Consumers, battered by a slumping housing market and a credit crunch, slowed the growth in spending to the smallest amount in four months.The Commerce Department reported Friday that consumer spending edged up 0.2 percent in October, the weakest showing since a similar increase in June. Individual incomes grew by just 0.2 percent last month,...

Read More

Bernanke's Speech

From Bernanke's speech:How has the economic picture changed in the month since that meeting? As is often the case, the incoming economic data have been mixed. In the market for residential real estate, indicators of construction and home sales have continued to be weak. In contrast, the labor market remained solid in October, with some 130,000 new jobs added to private-sector payrolls and the unemployment rate remaining at 4.7 percent. Claims for unemployment insurance have drifted up a bit in recent weeks, although, on average, they have remained...

Read More

Bernanke's Speech

From Bernanke's speech:How has the economic picture changed in the month since that meeting? As is often the case, the incoming economic data have been mixed. In the market for residential real estate, indicators of construction and home sales have continued to be weak. In contrast, the labor market remained solid in October, with some 130,000 new jobs added to private-sector payrolls and the unemployment rate remaining at 4.7 percent. Claims for unemployment insurance have drifted up a bit in recent weeks, although, on average, they have remained...

Read More

Subprime Deal in the Works?

From the WSJ:The Bush administration and major financial institutions are close to agreeing on a plan that would temporarily freeze interest rates on certain troubled subprime home loans, according to people familiar with the negotiations......The plan is being negotiated between regulators including the Treasury Department and a coalition of mortgage-related companies including Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp. People familiar with the talks say the individual members have agreed to follow...

Read More

Subprime Deal in the Works?

From the WSJ:The Bush administration and major financial institutions are close to agreeing on a plan that would temporarily freeze interest rates on certain troubled subprime home loans, according to people familiar with the negotiations......The plan is being negotiated between regulators including the Treasury Department and a coalition of mortgage-related companies including Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp. People familiar with the talks say the individual members have agreed to follow...

Read More

Uncomfortable Times

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, issued a warning in terms that only a seasoned Bank of England could, that the economy is heading for a very rough patch.He was addressing the Treasury Select Committee and warned of "rather uncomfortable" times ahead, with a "big risk" that the credit squeeze could intensify. Whilst these warnings if used by mere mortals may not seem to be that dire, to emanate from the mouth of the Governor they are very serious indeed.As I have noted earlier, it is fear that is the key feature of this "crisis"....

Read More

Credit Crunch Still Going Strong

From the NY Times: The combined value of two leading sources of credit — outstanding commercial and industrial bank loans, and short-term loans known as commercial paper — peaked at about $3.3 trillion in August, according to data from the Federal Reserve. By mid-November, such credit was down to $3 trillion, a drop of nearly 9 percent.Not once in...

Read More

Credit Crunch Still Going Strong

From the NY Times: The combined value of two leading sources of credit — outstanding commercial and industrial bank loans, and short-term loans known as commercial paper — peaked at about $3.3 trillion in August, according to data from the Federal Reserve. By mid-November, such credit was down to $3 trillion, a drop of nearly 9 percent.Not once in...

Read More

Today's Markets

Good news today for the bulls. The markets didn't have a late day sell-off for a second day in a row.The SPYs closed a touch lower. But they maintained their uptrend they started yesterday. On the negative side, the moving averages are pretty bunch-up right now, which indicates a lack of short-term direction.The QQQQs had the best day of the averages...

Read More

Today's Markets

Good news today for the bulls. The markets didn't have a late day sell-off for a second day in a row.The SPYs closed a touch lower. But they maintained their uptrend they started yesterday. On the negative side, the moving averages are pretty bunch-up right now, which indicates a lack of short-term direction.The QQQQs had the best day of the averages...

Read More

Crisis Has Further To Run

David Blanchflower, the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member, has stated that credit crisis that is damaging the UK economy and housing market has further to run, and that banks' losses could be much greater than currently estimated.Quote:"There is still concern in the credit market."In a less than cheery pre Christmas interview with the Birmingham Post, he indicated that worse is to come.As such he is calling or an early interest rate cut, and is supported in that call by Sir John Gieve another member of the MPC. Given that the...

Read More

Beige Book + Charts

In this article, I'm going to combine the Fed's Beige Book with some relevant charts to see how the markets and the Fed are lining up. The Fed's writing will be off set and italicized.Reports on retail spending were downbeat in general, with several significant exceptions. Most Districts characterized sales as weak or indicated that they had softened,...

Read More

Beige Book + Charts

In this article, I'm going to combine the Fed's Beige Book with some relevant charts to see how the markets and the Fed are lining up. The Fed's writing will be off set and italicized.Reports on retail spending were downbeat in general, with several significant exceptions. Most Districts characterized sales as weak or indicated that they had softened,...

Read More