Economy Blog

Since January, Countrywide, Bank of America Corp., Washington Mutual Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. have frozen about 600,000 equity credit lines nationwide…
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Russia’s new president is sworn in, but Putin will maintain his influence over economic affairs.…
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But Putin will maintain his influence over economic development.…
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BoE will nonetheless stay on hold this week.…
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Interest rates on hold tomorrow however.…
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A veteran U.S. central bank official said Tuesday he’s worried about a deteriorating inflationary environment, and suggested that when the Federal Reserve begins to raise rates, it could do so swiftly.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said rising inflationary pressures are “troublesome” and a “serious” matter. “The bigger concern is that these increases are beginning to generate an inflation psychology to an extent that I have not seen since the 1970s and early 1980s,” he said. Hoenig added that “there is a significant risk that higher inflation will become embedded in the economy and require significant monetary policy tightening to reduce it.” He tied rising prices primarily to overseas factors, including a “sizable decline” in the U.S. dollar’s value.
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(May 6, 2008 09:11 PM, by Arnold Kling) John Tierney writes, We may not slaughter animals anymore to ward off a plague, but we think buying health insurance……
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Taiwan?s foreign trade surplus increased to $1.0 billion in April, compared with a $0.17 billion surplus in March. Exports weakened, while imports slowed at a faster rate than exports.…
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Don’t forget to participate in our exclusive Survey of Business Confidence.…
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What is the market impact from the interpretation of data?

It is an open and free debate, but there is a problem.  The results follow from advanced statistical methods and processes.  Even the smartest hedge fund managers, columnists, and pundits cannot draw independent conclusions.  They did not take the right classes.  They never did any time series modeling or survey research.  Briefly put, they lack the necessary skills to evaluate most data.
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Won, peso and rupee all lower as crude tops $122.73 a barrel in New York.…
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Years ago I was an angry young man I’d pretend That I was a billboard Standing tall By the side of the road I fell in love With a beautiful highway - (Nothing But) Flowers, Talking Heads Here is a fascinating moving (no pun intended) 12-month chart of monthly vehicle-miles on U.S. highways from 1983 to today. It’s interesting what has happened in the last three years: …
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This week we’re very fortunate to have two of our Columbia University experts, Professors Jagdish Bhagwati and Jeffrey Sachs, weighing in on what is becoming a major crisis: the high prices, tight supply and poor distribution of staple foods. Poor people around the world are being hit hard, and their empty stomachs are forcing [...]…
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Word On The StreetWORD VIDEOSuper-SpikeA Goldman Sachs analyst made a huge prediction Tuesday that oil will have a “super spike” to $200 in the next few years. Oil trader Joe Terranovia told the crew he is very bullish on oil. He said as long as supplies stay limited the price of crude oil will continue to rise. He also mentioned he is bullish on natural gas. M…
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“Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should drop their windfall profit tax proposals for the oil industry,” Jim Cramer told fans of his “Mad Money” TV show Tuesday. Cramer explained those proposals would be bad for natural gas drillers, which he said are our best chance at energy independence. Recently, Cramer told viewers that 2008 is the year of natural gas. He said natural gas drillers have an average growth rate of 15% and the sector has excellent visibility. Cramer recommended Devon (DVN), Apaache (APA), Southwest Energy (SWN), Ultra Petroleum (UPL) and Encana (ECA). He also likes XTO Energy (XTO), El Paso (EL) and ConocoPhillips (COP) - all three of which he owns for his charitable trust. Cramer told investors not to forget about Nabors (NBR) and Halliburton (HAL). Cramer said that investors haven’t missed the move in natural gas and he raised his price target on oil to $150 from $125.
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If TechCrunch has this story right, it’s big news. The gist: Mike is saying that a source tells them that Yahoo held a board meeting today and put Yahoo chair Bostock in charge in re-opening negotiations with Microsoft. If true, then it’s the end of Jerry Yang’s time at Yahoo, not to mention one of the biggest business debacles in recent memory. If it’s not true … well, at least it’s entertaining reading from those crazy kids at TechCrunch. …
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(May 6, 2008 07:16 PM, by Arnold Kling) Ibsen Martinez writes about the perception that Chile’s economic success is tainted by its origins in the Pinochet regime. Sadly……
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