Economy XVIII

It has been a while since I put up a thread on the economy, and after the G20 summit on the weekend I thought that we should have a catchup.

Over the past week the following developments have occurred:

• Pakistan has obtained $7.6 billion loan from the IMF (which is short of the $15 billion they wanted)
• Seven Goldman Sachs executives have decided not to accept their normal bonuses. For example, the chief executive Lloyd Blankfein will revert to his $600,000 base salary. Last year he took home $68.5 million – so I think he will be OK
• And it does not look like the US car manufactures will be getting their bailout money any time soon.

Economy XVII

After the plunge on Wall St overnight (Dow down 4.7%), I think it is time that we have another thread on the economy. Some of the recent developments:

• the US government intervention in AIG has increased. Some of the loans have now quietly been transformed into actual stock, with additional money also being pumped in
• the US car manufacturers are really struggling. I read yesterday that one major broker has recommended that people sell any GM shares as they will be worth nothing in the near future
• Amercian Express has converted into a bank to allow it to get government protection and access to federal funds. But wait – isn’t this what the Australian government recommended that non-banks in Australia should do if they want federal protection?

I am sure there are other stories that I have missed that the blogocrats can fill us in on.

Economy XV

Yesterday the RBA cut the rates by 75 basis points. Today the US elect a new president.

What affect will either or both of these have on the local economy? And will the new president have an effect on the world economy?

So – keep all discussions on the economy here.

Update: Market news from overnight

• Dow up 3.28%
• FTSE up 4.42%
• Allords down 0.08%

And the Australian futures are currently up by 2%, so it could be a positive day on the Australian markets.

 

(previous thread closed)

The economy – XIII

Will it be a lucky 13 today for the markets, or an unlucky 13?

Yesterday the ASX/200 smashed (yes – smashed Shane) the 4000 barrier closing at a remarkable 4001.1 points (up 4%). Overnight, Wall St was up 2.1%, but the Australian futures are down slightly.

Well – at least the markets are doing better than our cricket team.

We will leave this economy thread open over the weekend.

(previous thread now closed)

Surge-enomics? XI

Overnight Wall St surged 11% – so it seems that the Australian markets are in for a good day.

On Lateline last night, Chris Bowen highlighted something I was not aware of. So far there have been around 20 investment funds that have frozen their redemptions, of which 10 of them were close before the bank guarantee that has supposedly rooned them all (according to the opposition). So did the bank guarantee cause the others to close, or would they have closed anyway along with a run on the bank deposits?

(previous economy thread now closed)

Turmoil-enomics X

I think we are up to number 10.

Yesterday the Australian markets lost around 1.6%. Overnight Wall St lost 2.4%. But the Australian futures are pointing to a gain on the markets today.

And it seems that the oppositions bluster is having no effect on their poll ratings. The latest Newspoll published in today’s Australian shows that the ALP still show a strong lead in the 2PP – 54-46, but the interesting on is that 65% are satisfied with Rudd’s performance (up from 56%), whereas Turnbull has only improved one point to 51%. And on the better PM question, Rudd leads Turnbull by 59-25.

Here is the link to the Newspoll PDF. And of course, Dennis tries to put his spin on the poll – seeing movement where there is none.

So here is today’s economic thread, keep it clean, keep it civil.

(previous thread now closed)

Turmoil-enomics IX

I have decided that no-one has any idea what is happening in the economy, so we may as well use magicians, psychic, seers, diviners, crystal balls etc. to find out where the market is going.

Last Friday, the markets around the world went into freefall, so is anyone brave enough to predict what is going to happen on Monday?

(thread VIII now closed)

Turmoil-enomics VIII

We have finally reached the end of a tumultuous week. The guarantee on savings has caused side-effects, Turnbull and Bishops know everything with perfect 20-20 hindsight, and the markets have been up and down quicker than the level in a blogocrat’s glass at five o-clock on a Friday.

So this is the thread for everything economic for Friday, and will stay open for all discussions over the weekend. This will (hopefully) allow the Friday thread to stay ecomomically free.

Overnight, the Dow was up 2%, but the SPI200 Futures was down 77 point. Fasten seat-belts, please, it may get bumpy.

(I will be out most of the time on Friday getting an MRI scan on my dicky shoulder, so it will be up to reb to approve any comments that get trapped in the spam queue – joni)

Turmoil-enomics VI

And on the sixth day we still had no idea where we were on the rollercoaster… were we going back up, or were we going back down. How many more ups and downs are there?

So here is Wednesdays thread for all talk of the economy and the markets

Turmoil-enomics II

Here is our thread for Thursday (a bit early, but the Eyes on Lateline scared me).

John Mc emailed me this link which has a pretty cool interactive webpage on the meltdown. Have a look – it’s very informative.

Now – I just watched the Lateline interview with Julie Bishop and so the transcript is not available yet, but at the start of the interview she seemed to say that Rudd did not understand what CDS’s were (Credit Default Swap) when she asked a question in QT. But then later in the interview she admitted to Tony Jones that she did not know what CDS’s were…. now isn’t admitting that she did not understand her question, which means – how could she understand the answer?

Anyway – this is the thread for Thursday.

(Oh – and I closed comments on the previous thread, so if you want to comment put it in this thread)

Comments now closed – please use thread III