Credit Writedowns

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Schrodinger’s Cat in Athens
2012-02-13 00:45 UTC by Marc Chandler

The austerity regime being adopted throughout Europe, by surplus and deficit countries alike, amid deleveraging, begs the question of where will aggregate demand come from? Moreover, iIf Greece can lower its debt burden by transferring some of it to its creditors, is it not in Portugal’s interest to explore the scope for forgiveness

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News Links: Across the Country, Looking for the Economic Recovery
2012-02-12 05:31 UTC by Edward Harrison

Financial news for 12 Feb

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News Links: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Google And Microsoft Combined
2012-02-11 05:31 UTC by Edward Harrison

Financial news for 11 February

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Running through unilateral Greek exit scenarios
2012-02-10 20:18 UTC by Edward Harrison

Here's how I see it happening, based on my Italian default post

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More on Greece and Nationalism
2012-02-10 20:00 UTC by Edward Harrison

Last April I said that unless we see a multi-year recovery economy in which the nagging debt and default issues are entirely removed, economic nationalism will return with a vengeance. And that means political conflict in which the potential for armed responses is high. This is still the case now

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Richard Nixon gets it
2012-02-10 18:09 UTC by Edward Harrison

Full employment should be the standard

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Greece: falling apart
2012-02-10 16:45 UTC by Edward Harrison

This is the reaction to the latest austerity measures proposed for Greece

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Chart of the Day: US Congress Approval Rating
2012-02-10 13:35 UTC by Edward Harrison

The latest Gallup poll shows the approval rating for Congress at a record low 10%. 86% disapprove

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Will Government Bank Mortgage Deal Help or Hinder Prosecutions?
2012-02-10 13:11 UTC by Edward Harrison

This Real News Network segment was recorded before the deal was announced today, but the observations are still germane. Yves Q. Smith argues this is just kabuki theater for the masses (ahead of a general election, I would add). Clearly, the easiest way to get a good settlement is to investigate (and prosecute) first and to settle only with that...

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Greece and the Troika’s Treachery
2012-02-10 13:00 UTC by Marshall Auerback

Marshall Auerback suggests the Troika's goal in the Greek deal is to make the deal so miserable for the Greek people that the Spanish, Portuguese, Irish and Italians don't even begin to think of trying to get a similar haircut on their debt

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Dollar Higher on Greek Stumbling Blocks
2012-02-10 12:43 UTC by BBH

Concerns over the Greek deal have seen the dollar move higher against most of the majors and EMs EuroStoxx 600 is off its lows but down 0.4%, bank shares down 1.7%; S&P 500 futures down 0.6% Safe have securities are rallying with 2-year bund yields down 2bps; Swiss Jan. CPI contracted by -0.4% m/m

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News Links: The Top Twelve Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement
2012-02-10 05:31 UTC by Edward Harrison

The Top Twelve Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement « naked capitalism As readers may know by now, 49 of 50 states have agreed to join the so-called mortgage settlement, with Oklahoma the lone refusenik. Although the fine points are still being hammered out, various news outlets (New York Times, Financial Times, Wall

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Video: Quantitative Easing Revisited
2012-02-09 22:38 UTC by Edward Harrison

Deficit fatigue has set in as large scale deficit spending has become politically unacceptable. Austerity is now in. This has caused a recession throughout Europe and weakened the US. To counteract this fiscal retrenchment, monetary authorities are 'printing' as much money as they can reasonably get away with. QE is the policy choice du jour and...

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Bernanke ‘Irresponsible’ to Compare US to Greece
2012-02-09 19:39 UTC by Edward Harrison

That's the headline from my latest talk on RT's Alyona Show. Before I send you to the clip, let me explain my thinking because I don't think I was really clear in the video

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Rickards on Iran and QE3
2012-02-09 18:47 UTC by Edward Harrison

Jim Rickards, author of Currency Wars, was on capital Account last night and he thinks both QE3 and war with Iran are distinct possibilities. Take a look

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Majors Trading Flat ahead of the ECB
2012-02-09 12:35 UTC by BBH

The dollar is paring back some of its recent losses, with currencies mostly range bound, ahead of the ECB. The EuroStoxx 600 is currently up 0.25%, with bank shares up 0.8%; S&P 500 futures are essentially flat. Euro zone sovereign 10-year yields are mixed; Portuguese 10-year down 17bps, Spanish 10-year up 7bps

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News Links: Jeremy Grantham’s investing strategies for 2012
2012-02-09 05:30 UTC by Edward Harrison

Jeremy Grantham’s investing strategies for 2012 – CBS News "Quality gave back a bit of its outperformance [in the fourth] quarter, but the game is in the early innings still," GMO says in its latest report. "High quality stocks still trade at attractive levels, and the general defensive posture of quality still remains...

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Richard Nixon: 1971 Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union
2012-02-08 14:24 UTC by Edward Harrison

I have highlighted some of the state of the union addresses by Herbert Hoover in the past because I see the Great depression as a time with certain parallels to the present economic hardship. Let's look at the 1970s instead now. Here's Richard Nixon from 1971, with what was considered a conservative agenda in 1971 based on balancing the federal...

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William K. Black explains control fraud at length
2012-02-08 13:30 UTC by Edward Harrison

This is a good and in-depth interview with Bill Black conducted by George Mason economics professor Russ Roberts. I highly recommend your listening to it

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Dollar Mostly Softer as Greek Deal Inches Closer
2012-02-08 12:43 UTC by BBH

The dollar is extending its recent losses on hopes that Greece is inching closer to a deal that would ensure the next bailout payment, though the major currencies remain in relatively tight ranges

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News Links: Missouri Attorney General Files Criminal Lawsuit on Robosigning
2012-02-08 05:30 UTC by Edward Harrison

Mirabile Dictu! Missouri Attorney General Files Criminal Lawsuit on Robosigning « naked capitalism What is striking about the indictment by a Missouri grand jury is that the Missouri AG Chris Koster has decided to challenge the banks’ party line that robosigning and related abuses were mere "paperwork problems." He’s called...

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Chart of the day: 2012 sovereign risk compression
2012-02-08 02:00 UTC by Global Macro Monitor

Great data from Bespoke. Looks like Portugal is the odd man out as the only government in which its CDS spreads have widened this year

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Has the Euro Broken Out?
2012-02-08 01:30 UTC by Marc Chandler

Given market positioning and the anticipated long-term repo operation at the end of the month, it is tempting to see this move above $1.3250 as a breakout. Is it a breakout

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The Elephant in the Room Is Spain, Not Italy
2012-02-07 21:30 UTC by Marshall Auerback

The decision for Europe’s bosses is this: they must ultimately confront the consequences of their policy choices. They can destroy the eurozone by continuing with the same failed mix of policies or by salvaging it by adding what has been missing from the outset: a mechanism for shifting surpluses to the deficit regions in the form of productive...

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The Fed Resumes “Printing”
2012-02-07 21:00 UTC by Casey Research

One conclusion from the Fed's actions is that it doesn't care as much about its inflation target as it does about improving the unemployment rate. Thus, it will err on the side of letting inflation rise, if it would improve unemployment. But holding rates too low too long fueled the housing bubble. Repeating the same game will have consequences of...

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Intervention Risks Rise In Latin America
2012-02-07 20:30 UTC by Win Thin

FX intervention is certainly in the air this week for Latin America. Brazil stands out as the most aggressive, of course, as the central bank intervened in the forward market Friday and in the spot market Monday

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Banks Paying Cash to Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures
2012-02-07 15:30 UTC by Edward Harrison

Here's the latest story that's been getting buzz around the internet: banks are trying to get troubled mortgages off their books without having to go through costly foreclosure processes and they are offering homeowners cash incentives to do so

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Greek protests turn very anti-Germany
2012-02-07 15:05 UTC by Edward Harrison

This is how it's going down in Greece right now. The sentiment is very Anti-German on the eve of the austerity/bailout decision. The debt haircut and writedowns coming of upwards of 50% is a default in everything but name. Technical default is a real possibility as well

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Use of lower-rated debt in repos has returned to pre-crisis levels
2012-02-07 14:51 UTC by Guest Author

Looks like there’s a storm brewing in the U.S. repo markets. It figures: profit-center banks have every motivation to stay one step ahead of the regs and the pols. Since the gamekeepers have now gotten around to looking at proprietary trading and bringing derivatives onto exchanges, you can almost bet your first-born that the next crisis will be...

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[Premium] Dow Transports lagging is a warning sign
2012-02-07 13:00 UTC by Edward Harrison

There are still a lot of Dow Theory followers out there even after over 100 years. And the divergence between a bullish DJIA headline number and the lagging Dow Transports is bearish from a technical perspective

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