Economy Blog » 2008 » March

Economy Blog
Everything about the economy in a single blog

RSS | Visita nuestra web

Goldman Sachs says that several factors could cause oil to spike to $200. “As the lack of supply growth and price-insulated non-OECD demand suggest a future rebound in U.S. gross domestic product growth or a major oil supply disruption could lead to $150-$200 a barrel oil prices,” Goldman said, according to MarketWatch. Douglas A. McIntyre
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) admin @ 20:46

Job of The Week: On The Night Shift, Baby

Your jobs sucks. That’s why we spent part of the afternoon combing through our Career Center in search of the most interesting jobs. There are dozens to choose from, all categorized according to specialization. But one special one has been selected as our Job of The Week.

This week we’re looking to land you a night job. That’s right, something for those of you who prefer to sleep the day away and only crawl out of your tomb when the sun has set. But they don’t make jobs like that on Wall Street, right? Wrong. B…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:44

Subprime: One of Those Classic Photos

I’m sure there will be better photo versions of this moment soon, but this sure felt like instant history. We have financial services CEOs Chuck Prince (Citi), Stan O’Neal (Merrill), Angelo Mozilo (Countrywide), and others all swearing to tell the truth before the House Oversight Committee as the mortgage market pile-on is underway. …
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:01

The Fed Is Not Helping

Once again, market observers are eagerly hinging their hopes on the next moves from the Federal Reserve, as futures markets steadily boost the odds on just how large a move the Fed will take when it meets on March 18.
For a good long time, the expectations were for a half-point interest-rate cut. Futures are now pricing in a 100% chance of a 0.75 percentage point decrease in the funds rate, and there is even a slim probability being placed on a cut of one percentage point, as &…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:00

Politicians Have Discovered the Economy. Oh-Oh.

On the one hand you have politicians beating up CEOs over on C-Span, and on the other hand you have Republic and Democrat Presidential contenders chattering non-stop about the economy. Politicians have rediscovered the economy. Oh-oh. Here, from the fascinating new Dow Jones Insights blog, is a breakdown of media mentions, by candidate, of top subjects. …
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:48

Was Thornburg Brought Down By Irrational Markets and Mark To Market Accounting?

That’s what David Gaffen implies when on the Market Beat today.

And herein lies the peril of mark-to-market accounting. The company says “difficult market conditions that have resulted in a significant deterioration of prices of mortgage-backed collateral.” Market strategists have pointed out often that the assets in question being held — in Thornburg’s case, adjustable-rate mortgages with high credit ratings — are being priced at levels that reflect the expectation of a higher rate of defaults than most expect.

…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:33

NYSE Amendment To Allow For SPAC IPO’s (NYX, NDAQ)

The NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) has made proposed rule changes this week that would allow the listing of Acquisition Companies (ACs) on the NYSE. They are describing special purpose acquisition companies, or SPAC’s, and blank check companies. As the NYSE is acquiring the American Stock Exchange, this is probably going to be viewed as an expected formality. But there was also a SEC filing proposal that would allow the NASDAQ OMX Group Inc (NASDAQ: NDAQ) to get into the SPAC listing process as well. There are some differences in their proposal as far as the time allowed for a SPAC…
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:24

Three-Month T-Bill Hits 1.1%

Wow! This morning, the yield on three-month T-bills (^IRX) dropped to 1.1%. That’s just stunning. The Fed is miles behind the rest of the market. The T-bill rate has since ticked up to 1.4%.

The five-year yield dropped below 2.4%. Think about that. There are people who are so scared that they’re willing to lock-in a 2.4% return for the next five years….
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:10

Three-Mont T-Bill Hits 1.1%

Wow! This morning, the yield on three-month T-bills (^IRX) dropped to 1.1%. That’s just stunning. The Fed is miles behind the rest of the market. The T-bill rate has since ticked up to 1.4%.

The five-year yield dropped below 2.4%. Think about that. There are people who are so scared that they’re willing to lock-in a 2.4% return for the next five years….
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:10

J.P. Morgan: ‘Slouching’ Into a Recession

Add yet another recession call to the mix. J.P. Morgan Chase says the latest decline in payrolls is enough — combined with drags from housing, credit and energy markets — to indicate the economy has fallen into a recession.
Chief economist B…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:03

Live Video of Financial Services CEO Flogging

C-Span is running a live feed of Henry Waxman’s Oversight Committee flogging of various financial services CEOs. Good market bottom amusement from typically over-wrought politicians. As a related note, Eleanor Norton (D.) really needs to stop confusing Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo and academic theorist Abraham Maslow. Two different people. Really.
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:58

Getting You The Bonus You Deserve

It might seem like we got a kick out of writing about all of you who took it up the tailpipe this bonus season but, in truth, it pained us. We want you to get big bonuses ’cause when you don’t, the Meat Packing district suffers, and Murray Hill suffers, and my beautiful roommate suffers. All unacceptable crimes against humanity. We know it wasn’t all your fault– many of you can simply blame your employers for losing billions of dollars and not having the scratch–, but, if we’re being honest, it probably was a little your fault. They could’ve come up with the money, somehow, but you didn’t give them a reason to, and, instead, your boss stuffed 5 gift certificates to the Sizzler in an envelope and thanked you, insincerely, for your time.
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:47

The REIT Squeeze

Yesterday, MarketBeat discussed how dealers in the mortgage markets had increased the collateral required for companies borrowing short-term funds used for purchasing agency mortgage debt, which has gone haywire of late.

Several Wall Street researchers today are out with notes providing a bit of clarity on what kind of requirements the residential mortgage REITs are looking at now. D…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:46

Are Start-Ups Bad for Your Family?

Today Pui-Wing Tam?s describes how the troubled economy is sending tech-industry workers fleeing for safer jobs at established firms. Reading what motivated these employees, I was struck by a common thread:
Their age.
T…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:41

Economists React: Payrolls at ‘Recessionary Levels’

Economists and others weigh in on the the weaker-than-expected employment report.

Private payroll growth has now been negative for three months in a row (including a very sharp 101,000 drop in February). These payroll changes are at recessionary levels. –Drew Matus, Lehman Brothers

…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:33

Shipping Datapoint of the Day

Scott Borgerson, in Foreign Affairs:

Taking into account canal fees, fuel costs, and other variables that determine freight rates, these shortcuts [through the Arctic Ocean] could cut the cost of a single voyage by a large container ship by as much as 20 percent — from approximately $17.5 million to $14 million — saving the shipping industry billions of dollars a year.
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:07

The WSJ’s New Magazine: An Obvious Money-Spinner

Irin Carmon today gets some hard facts about the WSJ’s new glossy magazine.

WSJ.’s circulation of 800,000 will be targeted to the 15 largest metro markets, including subscribers with a median household income of $300,000 (15 percent higher than the Journal’s overall), plus a small amount of newsstand distribution. (For would-be readers shut out, all the material will be online.) Another 180,000 copies will be distributed in the Asian and European editions of the paper. As with Time magazine’s Style & Design spin-off, the strategy hones the demographic profile while keeping production costs down.
…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 17:53

Getting a Handle on One’s Nerves

By now traders would be forgiven for feeling like they’d gone 15 rounds with Joe Frazier. The economic data continues to worsen, market conditions are proving increasingly perilous, and the remedies applied by the Federal Reserve have proven, to date, impotent.
Today the market was hit with news that once again dented psychology in a matter of minutes. Shortly before the monthly jobs data — normally a tense moment for the market anyway — the Federal Reserve a…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 17:49

Does Math Hate Women?

Off the top of our heads, we can’t name one woman in a prominent position at a quant shop. Maybe this is why.

Math 55 is advertised in the Harvard catalog as “probably the most difficult undergraduate math class in the country.” It is legendary among high school math prodigies, who hear terrifying stories about it in their computer camps and at the Math Olympiads. Some go to Harvard just to have the opportunity to enroll in it. Its formal title is “Honors Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra,” but it is also known as “math boot camp” and “a cult.” The two-semester freshman course meets for three hours a week, but, as the catalog says, homework for the class takes between 24 and 60 hours a week.

…
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 17:33

Stiffed

Get this– former Merrill chief Stan O’Neal, who left the building with $163 million in cash, stock and stock options, along with several staplers and copies of Microsoft Office (which, in fairness, aren’t that cheap and are probably worth stealing, if you can), was actually supposed to receive a (proposed) additional $45 million in severance but didn’t, ’cause the board said no dice. So, basically, the lil’ guy was robbed. And, we think, at the very least, should get to keep the 163 being contested in Congress today. …
Original Source

7 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 17:23

Página anterior | Siguiente página

Sitios de Webalalza

Sites of Webalalza

Categories:

Economy

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Feb				Apr »
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

Economy Blog Everything about the economy in a single blog

Sitios de Webalalza

Sites of Webalalza

Economy Blog
Everything about the economy in a single blog