Sponsorised links
This month
Sponsorised links
June 2008
May 2008
March 2008
February 2008
No Lull in Mortgage Pitches - NYT
by ravi
Countrywide Financial brags in its ads that “No one can do what Countrywide can” and that “Countrywide can show you the way home.” Wachovia ads feature an “Approved” stamp prominently at the top, and Bank of America says, “Homeownership is the best medicine.”
Bleak New Batch of Data on Economy - NYT
by ravi
With the price of oil near record levels, import costs grew in January at the highest annual rate in a quarter century, the Labor Department said. In New York, manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level in five years. And consumers, responding to a national survey, said they felt worse about the economy than any time since the recession era of the early 1990s.
BBC | Weak rise in US industrial output
by ravi
US industrial production rose a meagre 0.1% in January, official figures have shown, the latest indication of weakness in the US economy.
BBC | US retail sales in surprise rise
by ravi
US retail sales rose 0.3% in January official figures show, bolstered by sales of new cars and petrol.
UK might be on verge of recession, says King | The Guardian
by ravi
The Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, admitted yesterday that the economy might grind to a halt this year - but warned that the continuing risk of inflation made further interest rate cuts unlikely.
BBC | Mortgage insurer reports big loss
by ravi
US mortgage insurer MGIC has reported quarterly losses of $1.47bn (£750m) after being hit by the housing slump and resulting high levels of bad debt.
AlterNet: Obamanomics: Barack Talks Tough on Trade
by ravi
On Wednesday, the first full day of a Wisconsin primary campaign that he hopes will solidify his emerging lead over his once "inevitable" rival, the Illinois senator started in Janesville, where he delivered a rebuke to free-trade policies of the Bill Clinton and George Bush eras that sounded a little like a speech Feingold might have delivered.
BBC | US annual trade deficit narrows
by ravi
The US trade deficit narrowed in 2007, official figures show, as a rise in exports offset the country's large growth in oil imports.
Fed Chief Hints at Further Rate Cuts - NYT
by ravi
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that the country's economic outlook has deteriorated and signaled that the central bank is ready to keep on lowering a key interest rate -- as needed -- to shore things up.
Think Progress » Bush Administration Hides More Data, Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators
by ravi
The Bush administration’s latest move is to simply hide the data. Forbes has awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its “Best of the Web” awards. Yet the Bush administration has decided to shut down this site because of “budgetary constraints,” effective March 1.
State Intervenes to Prevent Subprime Death: German Government Gives Bank Billion-Euro Bailout - SPIEGEL
by ravi
The German government is to bail out the troubled IKB bank to the tune of 1 billion euros. It is the second cash injection for IKB, one of the many German casualties of the US subprime crisis.
BBC | Buffett offers deal to insurers
by ravi
He offered to takeover the insurance of $800bn-worth (£408bn) of local government bonds, currently covered by MBIA, Ambac Financial and FGIC.
The Comeback of the German Dinosaurs: Industry Returns as Economic Engine - SPIEGEL
by ravi
The comeback of German manufacturing contradicts the notion that the future belongs to the service industry. Manufacturing firms are currently the engines of growth in the German economy, even for the service sector.
AlterNet: Meeting of Global Titans Tainted by Tanking Economy
by ravi
One of the world's best-known CEOs, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, admitted to fellow participants that he had become skeptical of the very notion of capitalism.
BBC | Indian economy set to decelerate
by ravi
India expects its economy to grow by 8.7% in the financial year ending March, the slowest rate of expansion in three years.
Retailers Report Weak January Sales - NYT
by ravi
The nation's retailers delivered more evidence of a stumbling economy Thursday, as merchants reported their weakest January performance in nearly four decades, extending a malaise that has deepened since the holiday shopping season.
The recession watch can now end. It's already here.
by ravi
A weak report about the services sector has caused some experts to declare that the economy has already entered downturn.
January 2008
BBC | US economic growth drops sharply
by ravi
The US Department of Commerce says the economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.6% from October to December.
In the previous three months, between July and September, the economy was growing at annual rate of 4.9%.
Calculated Risk: Homeownership Rate: Cliff Diving
by ravi
(via)
The homeownership rate has plunged back to the levels of the summer of 2001.
