Here’s a couple of random musings on a slow news day: Did Bernanke appear overly nervous today? That was my take and I was rooting for the guy to make a good impression. The BofA-Merrill deal has become politicized and someone is going to have to pay the price. My guess is that it’s Gentle […]
Archive for June 25th, 2009
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R.I.P. Michael Jackson
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 25th, 2009
This picture as much as any illustrates the breadth of Michael Jackson’s fame. Yes, he was a flawed human being but he was also a consummate entertainer and easily one of the most iconic figures of the late twentieth century.
Firms Accelerate Refinancings
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 25th, 2009
Sometimes it pays to ignore the blizzard of economic numbers that the government spews out and just pay attention to what business has to say about how business is going. On that score in the last few days we’ve had Warren Buffett, GE and FedEx all saying they don’t see any stinkin green shoots. If […]
Some Unpleasant Data
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 25th, 2009
I stumbled across several graphs at EconompicData.com that speak volumes about the real state of the economy. First, take a look at the commercial paper market: Now take a look at nonresidential investment: Jake points out that nonfinancial companies have been opting for longer funding maturities and moving away from the CP market but as […]
Fed’s Not Ready To End Life Support Anytime Soon
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 25th, 2009
The Fed has announced that it’s extending the maturity of most of its alphabet soup of lending programs from the end of the year until February 2010. Here is the opening paragraph of their statement: The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced extensions of and modifications to a number of its liquidity programs. Conditions in financial […]
Newly Unemployed Increasing
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 25th, 2009
Maybe we should just retire the “green shoots” metaphor and admit we’re more or less wallowing in the mud right now. The latest employment report doesn’t indicate any improvement. New jobless claims last week were up by 15,000 to 627,000. The four-week moving average stayed the same — 616,750. The only credible reason that might […]
