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Authored by Robert Bruner, op-ed via TheHill.com, Ten years ago this month, a recession began in the U.S. that would metastasize into a full-fledged financial crisis. A decade is plenty of time to reflect on what we have learned, what we have fixed, and what remains to be done. High on the agenda should be […]
When yesterday we discussed the latest troubles facing embattled retailer Steinhoff, whose bonds are owned by none other than the ECB, we said that while the company’s bonds mature in 2025, its bankruptcy is at most months away. In retrospect, and in light of the latest news, that may have been optimistic, because it now […]
A few weeks ago, we expressed some level of astonishment that the rating agencies, in their infinite wisdom, decided to bestow an investment grade rating upon a new $3 billion bond issuance by the City of Chicago. Of course, this wouldn’t be such a big deal but for the fact that the state of Illinois […]
The optimism on world trade didn’t last very long. It was only late September when the WTO issued a “strong upward revision” to their estimate for 2017 world trade. WTO economists raised their forecast to 3.6% from 2.4%, which was at the top end of the previous 1.8-3.6% range. This marked a sharp acceleration from […]
Earlier this week we reported that as part of the stunning, unexpected collapse of South African retail giant Steinhoff, which also owns France-based Conforama furniture chain, Mattress Firm in the U.S. and Poundland in the U.K., none other than the ECB was unveiled as owning an unknown amount of its recently issued €800 million in […]
The state of Illinois is a financial disaster that will undoubtedly be forced into bankruptcy at some point in the future. As we’ve pointed out multiple times over the past several months, the state faces a staggering $130 billion funding gap on its public pensions, a mountain of debt and $16.4 billion in accrued payables […]
The following article by David Haggith was published on The Great Recession Blog: As soon as President Trump put his Goldman boys, Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, in charge of his tax plan, I knew Trump’s tax plan would never fulfill his and his henchmen’s promises of helping the middle class and of not giving additional […]
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on June 1 and ends today, featured the highest number of major hurricanes since the 2005 season and was only the second time that two Category 5 hurricanes made landfall. However, it was by far the costliest hurricane season on record, with a preliminary total of $368.7 […]
Authored by Constantin Gurdgiev via Manning Financial, Recent months have seen a steady and growing flow of institutional investors', and market analysts', and researchers' warnings about the medium-term sustainability of the financial assets prices. Both, the IMF and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have documented evidence on the buildup of systemic imbalances across the […]
Moody’s upgrade to India’s credit rating comes as a much-needed boost for India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who has been criticised for the fallout from the goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation reforms. Indeed, Moody’s argued that Modi’s reforms will help to stabilize India’s rising debt levels. According to Reuters. Moody's Investors Service upgraded […]
In a long overdue, and not exactly surprising decision, moments ago the ISDA Determination Committee decided, after punting for three days in a row, that a Failure to Pay Credit Event has occured with respect to both the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as well as Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. Specifically, in today’s determination, in response […]
Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog, An entire library of articles about Big Tech is coming out these days, and I find that much of it is written so well, and the ideas in them so well expressed, that I have little to add. Except, I think I may have the […]
Authored by Umair Haque via Eudaimonia blog, When, in the 1930s, the great economist Simon Kuznets created GDP, he deliberately left two industries out of this then novel, revolutionary idea of a “national income”: finance and advertising. Don’t worry, this essay isn’t going to be a jeremiad against them, that would be too easy, and […]
Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog, It is easy for those of us in the West to overlook how important China has become to the world economy, and also the limits it is reaching. The two big areas in which China seems to be reaching limits are energy production and debt. Reaching […]
Authored by Carmen Reinhart via Project Syndicate, Usually, a sudden stop in capital inflows sparks a currency crash, sometimes a banking crisis, and quite often a sovereign default. Why, then, has the worldwide incidence of sovereign defaults in emerging markets risen only modestly? Booms and busts in international capital flows and commodity prices, as well […]