The WSJ is out with some more data that shows consumers have no intention of buying anything more than the essentials: From the Journal: Major retailers reported that American consumers are continuing to hunker down, casting a cloud over the durability of the U.S. recovery and underscoring the importance of overseas demand in restoring the […]
Archive for August 18th, 2009
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Bronte Capital: Why Fannie And Freddie Are Viable
Posted by Tom Lindmark on August 18th, 2009
A week or so ago I put up a link to John Hempton’s initial analysis of Fannie and Freddie. At that time I said it was to be a four part series and John commented to me that it would likely be longer than that. Indeed, he is now up to six separate posts on […]
Vegas Bets On American Consumption
Posted by Tom Lindmark on August 18th, 2009
There’s one group of people who scoff at the idea of the “new normal” and Joel Stein does a marvelous job of profiling them in his article in Time about Las Vegas. The article is a bit long but fantastic. Stein paints a great picture of the devestation that has been wreaked on the Vegas […]
Manhattan Office Values Crater
Posted by Tom Lindmark on August 18th, 2009
Bloomberg has a short article that notes commercial real estate deals in Manhattan have come to a halt. They quote CB Richard Ellis statistics that show three buildings changed hands in the first six months of the year versus an average of 32. The article cites a lack of financing as one of the obstacles […]
Little Comfort In Housing Starts And Wholesale Prices
Posted by Tom Lindmark on August 18th, 2009
A little deflation and some tepid news on new home construction constitute the economic news of the day. Wholesale Prices Producer Prices slipped 0.9% after 3 months of increases. The core rate, ex food and energy, was down 0.1%. The decline was spread pretty uniformly across all sectors suggesting that demand remains weak. Excess capacity […]
