Filed under: AIG, Al Gore, bank bailout, bernanke, Big Banks, cap-and-trade, carbon credit system, carbon credits, carbon dioxide, carbon rationing, Carbon Tax, citigroup, climategate, Co2, corruption, deception, Dictatorship, dotcom bubble, Economic Collapse, economic crisis, Economy, Empire, enron, environmental taxation, Federal Reserve, geithner, Global Warming, global warming hoax, global warming scam, Goldman Sachs, government crimes, henry paulson, Hoax, housing bubble, housing market, IPOs, ken lay, mafia, main street, mortgage, Robert Rubin, robert steele, scam, scandal, subprime lending, tarp, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wachovia, Wall Street | Tags: Ed Liddy, Gary Gensler, John thain, Joshua Bolten, mark patterson, Neel Kashkari, stephen friedman, william dudley
Goldman Sachs Next Scam: Carbon Credits
Cap and Trade is a Goldman Sachs and Enron Scam
Filed under: 60 minutes, austan goolsbee, bailout, bank bailout, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, bob rubin, CBS, citigroup, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deregulation, devaluation, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, Federal Reserve, free market, gangsters, geithner, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, House, hyperinflation, hypocrisy, Inflation, Jamie Rubin, larry summers, mafia, main street, middle class, obama, obama bailout, obama deception, oligarchy, Paul Volcker, Propaganda, Robert Rubin, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, Taxpayers, Timothy Geithner, Too Big to Fail, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street, White House | Tags: Matt Taibbi
Obama’s Bullshit-Meter Off The Charts:
“I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street”
Zero Hedge
December 13, 2009
Obama goes back to his Wall Street-bashing rhetoric in today’s 60 Minutes on CBS, after he has already doomed this country to tens of trillions in excess debt to make sure that Wall Street not only thrives, but prospers, courtesy of Bernanke’s vertical bond curve and the daily destruction of the dollar. With statements such as “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street” which the WSJ disclosed will be uttered by Obama shortly, only the most clueless viewers will find empathy with Obama’s latest message of banker “anti-hope.”
White House economic adviser Larry Summers also voiced aggravation with Wall Street on Sunday. “Here is what I think they don’t get…It was their irresponsible risk-taking in many cases that brought the economy to collapse,” Mr. Summers, who chairs the National Economic Council, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“And they don’t get in some cases that they wouldn’t be where they are today, and they certainly would not be paying the bonuses they are paying today, if their government hadn’t taken extraordinary actions.”
“For them to be complaining about serious regulation directed at making sure this never happens again is wrong. For $300 million to be spent on lobbyists trying to gut serious efforts at financial reform is not how this country should be operating,” Mr. Summers said. “For firms that have benefited from taxpayer support to be complaining about the government burdening them is, frankly, a bit rich.”
And it is not only Obama, but Wall Street protege Larry Summer himself who continues the banker bashing:
- White House economic adviser Larry Summers also voiced aggravation with Wall Street on Sunday. “Here is what I think they don’t get…It was their irresponsible risk-taking in many cases that brought the economy to collapse,” Mr. Summers, who chairs the National Economic Council, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“And they don’t get in some cases that they wouldn’t be where they are today, and they certainly would not be paying the bonuses they are paying today, if their government hadn’t taken extraordinary actions.”
“For them to be complaining about serious regulation directed at making sure this never happens again is wrong. For $300 million to be spent on lobbyists trying to gut serious efforts at financial reform is not how this country should be operating,” Mr. Summers said. “For firms that have benefited from taxpayer support to be complaining about the government burdening them is, frankly, a bit rich.”
First you bail them out, and now you bash them? It is one thing to dash criticism upon rhetoric but at least be consistent. If people can not read between the lines of this administration’s endless hypocrisy, they deserve all they get. And if Matt Taibbi’s latest controversial piece in Rolling Stone “Obama’s Big Sellout” needed any final validation, you just provided it Mr. President. Because while your Wall Street-centric policies can be explained by your lack of financial comprehension and private-sector experience (thereby justifying your desire to be “advised” by those who are an integral part of the banker syndicate), your complete disdain for the average American’s intellectual level exemplified by your most recent, upcoming 7 pm TV appearance is what is truly insulting. Maybe you can put Mr. Geithner up there next to you on the TV screen, and he can justify his reasoning for why incremental “fat cat” bonuses are such a bad idea. Come to think of it, why not make it into a round table, and include Larry Summer and Robert Rubin: we are confident they will have no problem distancing themselves from the very bankers they talk to 10 hours a day, telling them (and thus you) how to run national policy.
You say “Some people on Wall Street still don’t get it”… The problem, Mr. President, is that more and more people on Main Street, do get it. They now realize just whose agenda you have at heart. And said Main Street expects nothing but merely more theatrics during your upcoming meeting with Wall Street “fat cats” tomorrow.
Obama’s sellout to Wall Street creates ‘permanent bailout’
Obama turns to Big Bankers for campaign cash
WSWS
October 21, 2009
Under conditions of growing unemployment and deepening social misery for working people throughout the US, President Barack Obama flew into New York City Tuesday to raise millions of dollars in campaign donations from America’s financial elite.
He was expected to clear at least $3 million, largely from a Manhattan bash with an entry fee of $30,400 per couple—the maximum contribution allowed by law.
According to the Los Angeles Times, four of the seven co-chairs of the event and about a third of the guests come from the big banks and Wall Street.
Behind all the rhetoric about “change,” this is Obama’s most important constituency. In his run for the presidency in 2008, he captured the lion’s share of donations from Wall Street, taking in $15 million from securities and investment firms, $3 million from commercial banks, and $6 million from other financial institutions.
Under conditions of growing unemployment and deepening social misery for working people throughout the US, President Barack Obama flew into New York City Tuesday to raise millions of dollars in campaign donations from America’s financial elite.
He was expected to clear at least $3 million, largely from a Manhattan bash with an entry fee of $30,400 per couple—the maximum contribution allowed by law.
According to the Los Angeles Times, four of the seven co-chairs of the event and about a third of the guests come from the big banks and Wall Street.
Behind all the rhetoric about “change,” this is Obama’s most important constituency. In his run for the presidency in 2008, he captured the lion’s share of donations from Wall Street, taking in $15 million from securities and investment firms, $3 million from commercial banks, and $6 million from other financial institutions.
Top contributors to Obama and McCain are big banks
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Bank of America, Barack Obama, bear sterns, Big Banks, campaign contribution, citigroup, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, FEC, global economy, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, House, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, JP Morgan, left right paradigm, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, Merrill Lynch, middle class, morgan stanley, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, obama, Ron Paul, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, Taxpayers, UBS, Uncategorized, US Economy, Wachovia, Wall Street | Tags: credit suisse group, federal election commission, run on banks
Top contributors to Obama and McCain are big banks
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, brad sherman, Britain, C-Span, California, Chicago, China, chris dodd, citigroup, CNBC, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Europe, european union, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, food crisis, food market, food prices, food shortage, foreclosure, foreign banks, foreign investors, France, general motors, George Bush, Germany, global economy, Globalism, GM, Goldman Sachs, google, Great Depression, Greenback, Harry Reid, henry paulson, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Japan, jim rogers, joe biden, John McCain, Larry Kudlow, left right paradigm, liquidation, london, marc faber, middle class, mortgage, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, obama, Paulson, Propaganda, Psyops, putin, rate cut, real estate, Russia, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wachovia, Wall Street, wells fargo | Tags: earmarks, financial markets bill, financial terrorism, great britain, hr 3997, mental health bill, pork, pork barrel, pork barrel earmarks, Pork Barrel Spending, shanghai
Bailout Bill Will Help Chinese Banks, Foreign Banks
Congress Approves Bailout Bill
AP
October 3, 2008
With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.
The final vote, 263-171 in the House, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than it garnered on Monday. The vote capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.
Dow plummets when bailout passes
List of Representatives who Switched from “Nay” to “Yea”
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=1087#.
Food Riots Have Already Begun as Global Grain Prices Skyrocket, Supplies Dwindle
http://www.naturalnews.com/024372.html
California may need emergency $7 billion bailout
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49229820081003
Hoax Bank Closure Story Peddles Bailout Propaganda
http://www.prisonplanet.co..e-story-peddles-bailout-propaganda.html
Fed Officials Considering Further Rate Cuts: Report
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26986621
Former Head of Fed’s Open Market Operations Says Bailout Might Make Things Worse
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2..ad-of-feds-open-market.html
Bailout Would Only Prolong Crisis: Jim Rogers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49SYpcaWHTE
Wells Fargo Buys Wachovia Nixing Citi Deal
http://biz.yahoo.com/..ls_fargo_wachovia.html?.v=8
Report blames U.S. trade gap for 5.6 million lost jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4913E220081002
Putin blames US for world economy crisis
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71042§ionid=351020602
Bailout bill is 451 pages long
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a..cnWOA64ch9GkocOsJ0lJv24cA
Who’s profiting from the crisis? Goldman Sachs, of course
http://www.marketwatch.c..CDCB7}&print=true&dist=printMidSection
Paulson Bank Rescue Proposal Is ’Crazy,’ O’Neill Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..mClVjevU&refer=home
France Wants $500B Rescue For Europe
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article4864032.ece
Faber: U.S. Bailout Won’t Stop Slowdown
http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=25070&t=1&c=35&cg=4&mset=1011
IMF Adds Pressure On Congress To Pass Bailout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/01/banking.useconomy
Google stock plunges more than 93% in “erroneous trading”
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-39543-118.html
Ford & GM Auto Sales Drop
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_o..OmxGcLJO8EjS5v24cA
Chicago woman buys a house for $1.75
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71130§ionid=3510213
Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/pers..dex.html?iref=mpstoryview
US economic dominance over – Russia
IMF Warned Of Full-Blown Crisis
September’s ISM Manufacturing Index “Screams Recession,” Economists Say
SEC Extends Ban On Short Selling
Brazilian president: Brazilian economy solid, U.S. should do their homework
Western World Will Become Less Wealthy
’Car sleepers’ the new US homeless
Filed under: central bank, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, middle east, Stock Market, Uncategorized, US Economy
Citigroup Says Long Term Gold Could Triple
IBTimes
July 2, 2008
Gold Commodity Update, Citigroup metals analysts John H. Hill and Graham Wark also predicted that “longer term, we believe that gold is capable of doubling or tripling from current levels.”
The Citi global metals forecasts have an upward bias, at $906/$950/1000 average in 2008/09/10.
The analysts said “secular and seasonal factors favor gold” during the second half of this year. “We remain positive on gold, based on macro and supply/demand factors. The forces that have propelled gold for 5 years are firmly in place.”
During the second quarter of this year, gold has averaged $896/oz, up 34% from the same quarter of 2007 and down 3% from the first quarter of this year. “Following a series of downside fundamental tests gold appears to have found a floor, and quietly climbed back to $917/oz.”
“Despite extensive hand-wringing, the ‘floor in the dollar’ has inflicted minimal damage,” the analysts noted. “We believe the drivers of the gold bull market remain intact, heading into a favorable period.”
“We see gold as well-positioned heading into Autumn, when fabrication tends to heighten the market,” they added.
Nevertheless, Hill and Wark warned, “It will be important for seasonal/volatility dampened fabrication demand to recover, before gold can move higher.” However, they added,” Longer term, we would not be surprised to see gold double from current levels as the global policy prescriptions for the credit crunch remain powerfully and uniformly re-flationary.”
Meanwhile, Citicorp suggested that slow de-hedging is unlikely to result in a gold market surplus, although they said it remains a key question. “We believe that the combination of wealth creation in China, petrodollars in Russia/Mid-East, and ETF inflows is likely to absorb possible additional ‘supply’ of 200-300 TPY,” the analysts advised.
In the meantime, “real interest rates are still strongly negative, inherently favoring hard assets and gold,” Citigroup noted.
Filed under: asia, Big Banks, Britain, California, central bank, China, citigroup, Condoleezza Rice, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Europe, european union, Federal Reserve, florida, food crisis, food prices, forclosure, gas prices, general motors, george soros, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, LA, london, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Oil, Petrol, real estate, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy | Tags: Wen Jiabao, Zhou Xiaochuan
Citigroup: Euro May Approach $1.69 by September
Bloomberg
July 2, 2008
The euro may be nearing an “explosive breakout,’’ reaching record levels against the U.S. dollar, according to a Citigroup Global Markets Inc. research note.
The trading pattern, including a so-called double-bottom that tested lows, resembles the one before Feb. 26 that preceded the surge to $1.6019 per euro, analysts Tom Fitpatrick in New York and Shyam Devani in London wrote in the note today.
“ We cannot help but feel that things might be about to get very bad again,’’ the analysts said, referring to the possible combination of falling bond yields and rising oil prices.
The exchange rate may approach $1.69 per euro by September if previous patterns are duplicated, the report said.
The dollar fell to a two-month low, trading at $1.5864 at 12:35 p.m. in New York, down 0.5 percent from $1.5793 yesterday. It earlier touched $1.5887, the weakest since April 24. The dollar reached an all-time low of $1.6019 per euro on April 22.
China’s premier urges US to stabilise dollar
AFP
July 1, 2008
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has again called on the United States to stabilise the dollar, warning the greenback’s decline was posing threats to the global economy.
“China is taking measures to safeguard its stable economic development,” Wen said during a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, according to a statement posted on the foreign ministry’s website.
“(We) hope the US will overcome its subprime crisis soon and stabilise the exchange rate of the US dollar, which is significant to the whole world,” he said, according to the transcript posted late on Monday.
The Chinese currency, the yuan, has appreciated about 20 percent against the dollar over the past three years, which has placed enormous pressure on China’s exporters and forced some out of business.
China’s foreign exchange reserves, by far the largest in the world, hit 1.80 trillion dollars at the end of May, meaning even a small decline in the value of the dollar could cause a big loss to the Chinese treasury’s coffers.
It was the second time this year that Wen had spoken out against the weak dollar and problems in the US economy, and the impacts for China.
“The impact of the US subprime mortgage crisis is expanding, (and) the value of the dollar is continuing to fall,” Wen told China’s annual meeting of parliament in March.
“China is now in a critical period in its reform and development, and we must be fully prepared for changes in the international environment and become better able to defuse risks.”
Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan last month spoke out at the falling US dollar, saying it was driving up oil and other commodity prices, stoking inflation and causing pain for developing nations.
Factories hit worldwide as commodity prices soar
Reuters
July 1, 2008
Soaring commodity costs are denting manufacturing activity in Asia and Europe and the outlook looks bleak as new orders drop off in the face of rising prices, surveys showed on Tuesday.
Manufacturing activity in the euro zone contracted in June for the first time in three years while business confidence in Asia’s largest export markets is buckling and output has likely contracted further in the United States.
Purchasing managers indices showed manufacturing activity in the euro zone fell to 49.2 in June, China saw its index fall to a near three-year low of 52.0 while in Britain it contracted at its sharpest rate since December 2001.
Recent News:
http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/unte..orge-Soros-We/625954.html
Shares tumble as global bear market takes grip
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4272493.ece
Fed Official Admits Inflation Figures Are Cooked
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0332437420080703
U.S. auto sales hit 15-year low
http://www.reuters.com/article/busi..nessNews&rpc=23&sp=true
China should be alert to stagflation risks in fighting inflation
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6442614.html
Gas Prices Threaten To Shut Down Rural Towns
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-01-small-town-gas_N.htm
Forclosures will rise no matter who is elected president
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20..OhaMLLr1MN3fQC6hph24cA
L.A., Miami Home Foreclosure Rates More Than Double
http://www.bloomberg.co..=aYchgMdpnpC8&refer=worldwide
U.S. food prices up 8.5 percent from last year
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0236099120080702
US banks lose ’fifth’ of their value
http://www.bloomberg.com/app..BH2KL5bScow&refer=europe
American Airlines to cut 8% of staff
U.S. Economy Loses Jobs For 6th Straight Month
Angry Consumers Flooding Fed With Complaints
Filed under: belgium, bernanke, Big Banks, biofuels, Britain, brussels, central bank, Central Banks, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Euro, Europe, european union, Federal Reserve, gas prices, general motors, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, marc faber, Merrill Lynch, middle class, netherlands, Oil, Petrol, Protest, real estate, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy | Tags: Jean-Paul Votron, Maurice Lippens
3rd largest bank predicts U.S. financial market meltdown within weeks
DFT
June 28, 2008
Fortis expects within the next few days to weeks to complete the collapse of the U.S. financial markets. That explains the bank insurers interventions of the series Thursday at dealing with € 8 billion. “We are ready at the last minute. It goes in the United States much worse than thought, “said Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens, who maintains that CEO Votron to live. Fortis expects bankruptcies of 6000 U.S. banks that now lack coverage. “But Citigroup, General Motors, there begins a complete meltdown in the U.S..”
Fortis took yesterday € 1.5 billion with a share issue. At the end of last year was the Belgian-Dutch group € 13 billion of new shares for the takeover of ABN Amro, for which it paid € 24 billion. Lippens bases its concern on interviews with bankers. “Two months ago we knew not so bad that it is in America. And it will be much worse. We have a thick mattress needed for the next eighteen months to come when we can bring to ABN Amro. “
Two weeks ago reported the U.S. investment bank and adviser to Fortis Merrill Lynch certainly € 6.2 billion in additional capital was needed. The VEB yesterday demanded clarification of Fortis: CEO Jean-Paul Votron stopped in late april Fortis maintains that after the purchase of ABN Amro does not need on the capital market. In one year € 30 billion in market capitalization destroyed. After Votron last confession kelderde the share price by 19.4%, although yesterday climbed by 4.4% to € 10.65.
The massive unrest around the bank insurers, especially with our neighbours in Belgium as a bomb broken. While the fuss arose in the Netherlands to the limited financial world, it is with our neighbours the call of the day. Not only is the bank dominates the streetscape, but by the mokerslag for the Belgian volksaandeel are also hundreds of thousands of small investors hit hard.
All Belgian newspapers opened yesterday with real rampenkoppen, where the free fall of the bank insurers was wide coverage. ’Fortis crashes, “” Rampdag for Fortis’ and’ Fortis loses 5.3 billion, “opened three leading newspapers.
The panic around the group across the border so great that the national regulator CFBA has had reassuring words to speak to the desperate savers. “The emergency of Fortis is no reason to bank run and money to get off,” said a CFBAwoordvoerder. “The bank complies with all legal requirements, but has itself just very sharp targets.”
Maurice Lippens claims that all major shareholders yesterday “unanimously support” have pledged.
Like arrows in the Netherlands focus mainly on CEO Jean-Paul Votron, who are heavily vertild appears to have complied with the takeover of ABN Amro. But while the Netherlands in Brussels calling his bonus of € 2.5 million to be paid back in Belgium is demanding his departure.
Who makes such big mistakes, must bear the consequences and therefore resign, “said Huybregtse chairman of the Flemish federation of Investment and Investors. The fall of the share is for him a confirmation that the takeover of ABN Amro far too expensive and was poorly timed.
“The former shareholders of ABN Amro are now taking a bath in champagne”, stressed Huybrechts. “Who makes major mistakes, must go. Fortis is a really volksaandeel and with confidence that you can not cope reckless. ”
The Belgian newspaper the Standard is tough on the CEO: “The kredietcrisis has affected all banks, but it is no excuse. Fortis is much sharper fall, “says the commentator. “Fortis has always denied that there was still a capital increase. They were therefore either lies or ignorance. Both are equally bad, so must Votron the honour to itself. He is the only one who has earned something to the whole operation. ”
According to Belgian media wanted Fortis announce Thursday that the bonus Votron would be removed, but this is at the last moment not yet happened. Also, all press speculation about his succession, with the name of Filip Dierckx.
Votron itself will of being firm. “The shareholders are behind me and also in the top of the group, I only support for this I have put in operation,” said the under fire lying Fortis chief executive.
The refund of the now controversial bonus points he resolutely. “What I do with my money, my case. The bonus had nothing to do with ABN Amro, but was about the year 2007, “said Votron. The CEO is a willing part of his salary in Fortis documents.
Votron may also still rely entirely on chairman Lippens, who denies that the bank itself on the takeover of ABN Amro has completed. “Votron remains simply the CEO. At present intervention, which is difficult, that’s really show leadership. “
Barclays warns of disaster as Fed loses all credibility
Telegraph
June 28, 2008
US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall “below zero”.
“We’re in a nasty environment,” said Tim Bond, the bank’s chief equity strategist. “There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well if they can preserve their wealth.”
Barclays Capital said in its closely-watched Global Outlook that US headline inflation would hit 5.5pc by August and the Fed will have to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year to prevent a wage-spiral. If it hesitates, the bond markets will take matters into their own hands. “This is the first test for central banks in 30 years and they have fluffed it. They have zero credibility, and the Fed is negative if that’s possible. It has lost all credibility,” said Mr Bond.
Faber: Federal Reserve Could Fail, Buy Gold.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idU..Number=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Intervention Will Not Stop Dollar’s Slide
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/schiff/schiff062708.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil2..un28,0,5485259.story
Mugabe Henchmen Back By Barclays
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4232283.ece
http://www.latimes.com/business/inves..ain22-2008jun22,0,6088160.story
Dow Crashes while Gold rises
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/wallenwein062808.html
Families’ cash fears worst for 26 years
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4238319.ece
Family Storms Pittsburgh Bank, Protests Mortgage Crisis
http://www.wpxi.com/news/16727813/detail.html
Biofuel Plants Go Bankrupt on Feedstock Costs
http://moneynews.newsmax.com/headline..y/2008/06/27/107992.html
Tax means fewer travellers at main Dutch airport: report
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?i..54.yhsfzix8&show_article=1
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Dow, dow jones, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cuts, middle class, New York, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, silver, Stock Market, US Economy
Oil Near $143
AP
June 27, 2008
Oil futures climbed to a new record near $143 a barrel Friday as the dollar weakened against the euro, confirming expectations that the falling greenback, a major factor in crude’s stratospheric rise, will extend its decline and add to oil’s appeal.
Retail gas prices inched lower overnight, but are likely to resume their own trek into record territory now that oil futures have broken out of the trading range where they had been for nearly 3 weeks.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $142.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back sharply in a spate of late-day profit-taking to settle up 57 cents at a record $140.21. On Thursday, the contract shot past $140 and rose more than $5 to a new settlement record.
The latest record came as the dollar fell against the euro in afternoon trading, having traded roughly unchanged for much of the day.
“The dollar was slightly stronger, and when it gave up its gains, that gave oil the green light,” said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.
The market now believes the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates in the near future; since higher rates tend to strengthen the dollar, traders are anticipating that it will continue to fall and, consequently, that investors will keep turning to commodities including oil as a hedge against inflation.
“Oil’s back in favor, especially with people bailing out of the stock market,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
The stock market’s recent swoon is also sending investors in search of higher-yielding investments. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 360 points, and in afternoon trading Friday was down more than 100 points.
OPEC chief sees oil at $150-170 in coming months
Reuters
June 27, 2008
Crude oil prices could rise to as high as $170 per barrel in the coming months but are unlikely to hit $200 and should ease towards the end of the year, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said in an interview on Thursday.
“I forecast prices probably between $150-170 during this summer. That will perhaps ease towards the end of the year,” he told France 24 television, according to a text of the interview released by the station.
Gold Futures Rise as Oil Surges, Dollar Falls
IBT Times
June 27, 2008
Gold futures rose above $930 an ounce on Friday to the highest price in a month as crude oil hit a record high and the U.S. dollar continued to weaken, boosting the investment appeal of the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.
Gold for August delivery rallied $16.20 to end at $931.30 an ounce on the Comex division on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal hit an intra-day high of $933 an ounce, the highest for a most-active contract since May 27.
The precious metal posted a weekly gain of $27.60, or 3.1 percent from last Friday’s closing level of $903.70.
Gold is likely to regain $1,000 an ounce by the end of 2008 and work higher through 2009-2010, said John Hill, an analyst at Citigroup, in a research note.
Also on the Nymex, Silver futures for September delivery rose 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $17.71 an ounce. The metal climbed 1.8 percent this week and is up 19 percent this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/25/usa.subprimecrisis
Stocks Mostly Lower Again
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080627/wall_street.html?printer=1
The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,562291,00.html
Money being pulled out of NYC banks: High demand for wire transfers
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080624
Dow Tumbles 360 Points
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..p7tkyjYvSV08ZQAF3YkzSNv24cA
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, central bank, Chicago, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, dollar peg, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, george soros, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, imf, Inflation, Oil, Paulson, Petrol, platinum, silver, south africa, Stock Market, UAE, US Economy, washington mutual
Gold hits highs of $940, Current Price is $924
IBT Times
April 11, 2008
Gold pushed as high as $940 just before the open of the New York session on Thursday, then fell off until the noon hour, but then reversed field once again, moving higher to finish at $929.40/oz., down $4.60. Overnight, gold has edged lower.
Platinum was higher in the European markets, but declined in New York, to end at $2026/oz., unchanged. Overnight, platinum has slipped lower.
Silver peaked at $18.40 in early London trading, fell off until mid-morning in New York, then traded sideways for the rest of the day, closing at $17.95, down 22 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat.
It was a mixed day for the precious metals, with early weakness giving way to a spate of buying later in the day, and no major changes by the end.
Oil Prices Above $112 As Supplies Fall, Current Price $110
AP
April 9, 2008
The price of oil has surged to a new record, with a barrel a crude trading above $112 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A government report that oil and fuel supplies were lower than expected last week gave crude a push past its latest milestone. But months of buying by speculators and by investors seeking refuge from a falling dollar have also lifted oil to its new heights.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery has traded as high as $112.16, surpassing the previous trading record of $111.80 set ast month.
US Dollar Hits New Record Low Against Euro
RTT
April 10, 2008
The US dollar declined against its major counterparts in early deals on Thursday, hitting a fresh record low against the euro. Against its other major counterparts, the dollar weakened to new multi-day low during this time period.
The US trade balance, initial jobless and continuing claims are the major economic events slated for release later in New York morning.
The US dollar plummeted to new record low of 1.5915 against the euro at about 5:10 am ET Thursday, compared to yesterday’s closing value of 1.5832.
The dollar may face $1.65 against the euro by October
Bloomberg
April 7, 2008
Optimism for a dollar rebound that pervaded the currency market at the start of the year is fading.
Futures traders doubled bets against the greenback in the past two months, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington show. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which handle almost 40 percent of global foreign exchange trading, say the currency may slump to $1.65 per euro by October.
Recent News:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWBT00874120080410
Fed: Severe Downturn Possible
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRS00005820080409?sp=true
South Africa: Analysts Say Gold Can Top $1000 Again
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804100124.html
Greenspan: I have no regrets on Federal Reserve’s past policies
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080408/bs_nm/usa_economy_greenspan_dc
The Great Chinese Crash of 2008
http://www.fool.com/investing/in..reat-chinese-crash-of-2008.aspx
Soros: USD Won’t Be World’s Reserve Currency
http://www.nytimes.com/2008..Y&pagewanted=print
Soros sounds the alarm again on world economy
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/11/business/11soros.php
Federal Credit Cards Misused
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy../ST2008040803504.html
U.S. Economy: Consumer Sentiment Drops to 26-Year Low
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n..=af8M_eEjb_QY&refer=home
Gas, Diesel Prices Hit New Records
http://www.bloomberg.com..087&sid=af8M_eEjb_QY&refer=home
Gas Tops $4 In Chicago
http://cbs2chicago.com/consumer/gas.prices.milestone.2.697232.html
G24: IMF Regulatory Failures Caused Crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s..bNmbqT52QemoOrgF
Official: UAE to maintain dollar-peg policy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/08/content_7940355.htm
WaMu gets $7 billion infusion, cuts jobs, sees big loss
IMF: Mortgage Crisis May Cost $945 Billion
Dollar Falls Against Euro, Heads for Weekly Decline, Before G-7
US Fed prepares to replenish war chest
US trade deficit jumps despite weak dollar
Pound falls to 80p against the euro
IMF Says U.S. Crisis Biggest Since 1930s
IMF: Global Intervention Needed On Credit Crisis
Current crisis is worst since Great Depression: Soros
Soros Predicts End Of Easy Borrowing
Govt Expects Gas To Hit $4
Filed under: Big Banks, Britain, carlyle group, central bank, citigroup, CNN, Credit Crisis, DEBT, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Europe, european central bank, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, job market, JP Morgan, New York, Oil, OPEC, peter schiff, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, trilateral commission, United Kingdom, US Economy
Golds Hit Record $992, Current Price is $979
Goldseek
March 6, 2008
THE PRICE OF PHYSICAL gold bullion moved in a tight 0.8% range early Thursday, re-touching yesterday’s new all-time high above $992 per ounce as the US Dollar sank once again.
As the opening drew near in New York – where a small bomb damaged an army recruitment center in Times Square overnight – crude oil jumped to a new record above $105 per barrel.
European stock markets meantime ticked 0.3% lower as the Euro single currency leapt to a new all-time high of $1.5345 after the central bank in Frankfurt kept its interest rates on hold at 4.0%.
“We could see Gold Prices spike this year and hit $1,500 per ounce,” reckons Jay Taylor, editor of the Gold & Technology Stocks newsletter.
Peter Spina of Goldseek.com, also speaking to Reuters, agrees that $1,500 or even $2,000 gold is “definitely possible” in the next year, while Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital says “gold has a shot at $1,200 or even $1,500 this year.
“It is a measure of the value of currencies and will go up as long as central banks continue to devalue currencies.”
Euro Breaks $1.54 Mark, Drops back to $1.53
AP
March 7, 2008
The euro on Friday exceeded US$1.54 for the first time, after the European Central Bank left its benchmark rate unchanged a day earlier and signaled that rate cuts are not expected in the near term.
That sentiment pushed the euro to a new high in European morning trading; it reached US$1.5429 before dropping back slightly to US$1.5395, above the US$1.5370 it bought in New York late Thursday. It was the latest in a string of records for the 15-nation euro this week.
“The euro-dollar has taken another significant level this morning, having breached US$1.5400, and although this may be initiating a degree of profit-taking in the short term, many will remain mindful of Trichet’s hawkish stance and tacit acceptance of a stronger euro at yesterday’s ECB rate-setting meeting,” said James Hughes of CMC Markets, referring to ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet.
European Union businesses said they were starting to feel the pinch, notably from U.S.-based buyers who assert that the high euro makes European goods more expensive.
Meanwhile, the British pound stayed above the US$2 mark for a second day, buying US$2.0132 in European trading, above the US$2.0092 it bought in late New York trading the night before. Like the euro, it jumped higher after the Bank of England kept its own interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.
The dollar drifted lower to 101.96 Japanese yen from 103.09 yen on Wednesday.
Oil Prices Hit Record Near $106, Steadies at $105
AP
March 7, 2008
Oil prices were steady Friday after jumping to a trading record near $106 a barrel in the previous session as the dollar’s slide to new lows prompted investors to pump more money into commodities.
Analysts believe the steadily weakening dollar is the reason oil prices have jumped to a number of new inflation-adjusted record highs this week. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.
“There are expectations that the dollar will go lower, and that’s driving money into commodities,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “Traders now have this mantra: sell the dollar and buy oil, or buy commodities.”
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 3 cents to $105.44 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore.
The contract rose 95 cents Thursday to settle at a record $105.47 a barrel after earlier spiking to a trading record of $105.97.
CNN: A New Depression Might Be Coming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR7h8NBQU3E
Recent News:
http://www.forex-markets.com/quotes.htm
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=s
http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news../ousiv/idUSN0551565020080305
Fed Plans to Cut Rates on March 18th
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080305/ap_on..omy&printer=1
New Recession Worry: Bank Failures
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/03/new..dex.htm?postversion=2008030316
Rice Rises To 20 Year Highs
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f40ad5ca-e975-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac.html
The Fed’s doing more damage than good
http://www.marketwatch.com/n..-4a3c-b756-6fa6fc3c39b1%7D&siteid=rss
Carlyle Group, JPMorgan, and IMF plot strategy to protect wealth funds
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8813.html
Citigroup To Cut 30,000 Jobs
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23454681
Housing In Deepest Decline Since Depression
http://custom.marketwatch.com..E-D0D3-4AA8-917C-95F7F154AA08}
OPEC Blames Poor U.S. Economy For Oil Prices
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/06/business/06oil.php
Gold Edges Closer to $1,000
Mortgage Foreclosures Rise
Private Sector Sheds 23,000 Jobs
Fed Chief: Mortage Crisis To Continue
Experts Forsee Collapse Of U.S. Economy
Why The Dollar Is So Cheap
Treasury secretary wants to dump pennies
Gold hit record of $989 an ounce, falls back $981
Buffett: US Economy In Recession
Wheat 80% Higher Than A Year Ago
The Federal Reserve’s rescue has failed
The Fed Releases Crisis Preparedness Video
IMF Chief Says Euro Is Overvalued
Platinum Rises To Record – Palladium Rallies
OPEC Expected To Maintain Output
Karl Rove: Redeployment Would Cause Oil Prices to Skyrocket to $200 a Barrel
World Stocks Tumble On U.S. Recession Fears
Soaring Food Prices Imperil U.S. Aid
Asian Markets Tumble On Wall Street Drop
Most Americans Using Credit To Stay Afloat
Stocks fall sharply on economic worries
U.S. Economy: Spending Eroded By Inflation
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: bernanke, Big Banks, China, citigroup, Euro, FDIC, Fox News, George Bush, global government, gold, imf, Japan, New World Order, New York, peter schiff, platinum, south africa, tax rebates, UAE, War On Terror, Zimbabwe
Bush Unveils $3.1 Trillion Spending Plan
AP
February 4, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5HYIAQn4Lg
President Bush unveiled a $3.1 trillion budget on Monday that supports sizable increases in military spending to fight the war on terrorism and protects his signature tax cuts.
The spending proposal, which shows the government spending $3 trillion in a 12-month period for the first time in history, squeezes most of government outside of national security, and also seeks $196 billion in savings over the next five years in the government’s giant health care programs _ Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.
Even with those savings, Bush projects that the deficits, which had been declining, will soar to near-record levels, hitting $410 billion this year and $407 billion in 2009. The all-time high deficit in dollar terms was $413 billion in 2004.
Democrats attacked Bush’s final spending plan as a continuation of this administration’s failed policies which wiped out a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and replaced it with a record buildup in debt.
“Today’s budget bears all the hallmarks of the Bush legacy _ it leads to more deficits, more debt, more tax cuts, more cutbacks in critical services,” said House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C.
Platinum stable near record as gold solid above $900
Reuters
February 7, 2008
Cash platinum was hemmed in a tight band near its record high on Friday as another record high price in Japanese futures prices provided solid support due to concerns over supply problems in South Africa.
Spot gold was solid above $900 an ounce as the metal was supported despite the dollar jumping more than 1 percent against the euro on Thursday.
“There is no ceiling for platinum now as long as supply worries in South Africa remain,” said Tatsuo Kageyama, an analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management in Tokyo.
“You just can’t sell platinum considering that the country which supplies 80 percent of the world’s supply is facing trouble,” Kageyama said.
Cash platinum was trading at $1,840/1,850 an ounce as of 9:43 p.m. ET, from $1,841/1,846 late in New York on Thursday when it hit a record high of $1,850 an ounce the previous day.
Peter Schiff On Fox Business News – (2/4/2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKCNZFJWiRc
http://www.reuters.com/arti..RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010: analyst
http://www.canada.com/ottawa..2-f8fbb851a367&k=53982
ICBC Deposes Citigroup as Chinese Banks Rule in New World Order
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..BhYtHt.s3gM&pid=20601103
Greenback Has Lost 30% in Past 7 Years, Becomes “Bernanke Peso”
http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/greenback/2008/02/04/
IMF Calls For Revamping Global Government
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/12/boughton.htmauthor
China’s Inflation Hits American Price Tags
http://www.nytimes.com/2..7600&en=51da850cefb4bbf5&ei=5087
UAE Likely To Revalue Dollar Pegged Currency
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/business/?id=24186
U.S. recession could be worse than recent downturns
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0563297420080205
U.S. loses jobs for first time in 4-1/2 years
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN3134479520080201
Zimbabwe Inflation At Over 26,000%
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Mugabe-in-poll-setback-as.3734498.jp
U.S. Loses Its Status As World Economic Power
http://www.newsday.com/news/o..n31,0,2812464,print.story
FDIC Gears Up For Large Bank Failure
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story..yhoof&print=true&dist=printTop
Filed under: Bank of America, bernanke, Big Banks, central bank, China, citigroup, countrywide, Credit Crisis, david walker, DEBT, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, food prices, gaza, glenn beck, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, Japan, job market, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, rate cut, Ron Paul, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Tony Blair, UN, unemployment, US Economy, US Treasury
Fed Ready To Cut Rates Again
ABC
January 10, 2008
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Thursday to slash interest rates yet again to prevent housing and credit problems from plunging the country into a recession.
The Fed chief made clear the central bank was prepared to act aggressively to rescue a weakening economy. “We stand ready to take substantive additional action as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks,” he said.
Glenn Beck Interviews U.S. Comptroller General
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-16u9x3tfE
UN: US recession could cause global slowdown
http://rawstory.com/news/200.._global_0110.html
‘Brace yourselves, taxpayers of America. You’re going to help Bank of America finance its $4 billion buyout of Countrywide’
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com..urselves-taxpayers-of-america.html
Tony Blair To Join JP Morgan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/2..nm/jpmorgan_blair_dc
Jobless Claims Fell By 15, 000 Last Week
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessN…dName=businessNews
Paulson Sees `No Evidence’ Housing Decline Is Ending
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p..JukkXAFuWo&refer=home
Japanese Stocks Tumble on Goldman U.S., Domestic Recession Call
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=..LlqAo&refer=japan
Write-down at Merrill Lynch may hit $15 billion
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/11/business/11wall.php
Helicopter Ben About to Shift the Confetti Shredder Into Afterburner
http://blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5243
Food Crisis In Gaza
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4RRlEa_z4MbOnNbq_n6O_H8g_Sg
Dow Drops Nearly 250 Points
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080111/wall_street.html?.v=40
Gold Hits Record After Bernanke Speech
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U36JQO2&show_article=1
Goldman Sachs sees recession in 2008
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080109/usa_economy_goldman.html
Merrill Lynch: Recession “Has Arrived”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7176255.stm
Chinese & Kuwaitis Bail Out Citigroup
Ron Paul: Get Back to Gold
‘Shocking’ sales results from M&S deepen fears of recession in UK
National Bureau of Economic Research: “Odds Of Recession More Than 50%”
Jim Rogers Says U.S. to Have Worst Recession `in a While’
Gold futures back off in early U.S., near $900/oz
Gold Forecast for 2008
Filed under: Britain, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, George Bush, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, job market, Merrill Lynch, Oil, Petrol, platinum, Stock Market, unemployment, US Economy
Gold futures back off in early U.S., near $900/oz
Reuters
January 9, 2008
 |
U.S. gold futures slipped from a record high just shy of $900 an ounce early Wednesday as investors kept buying and strong demand at the debut of China’s first gold futures contract underscored global bullishness.
Gold’s rally comes in the context of explosive fund interest in the commodity sector since the beginning of 2008. Platinum also hit a new high overnight before backing off.
Despite the mild correction as New York traders sat down, upward momentum appeared strong with sentiment underpinned by record oil prices, a weak dollar and the flight from U.S. equity markets into hard assets.
Building on Tuesday’s more than $18 gain, gold for February delivery at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange GCG8 rose to $894.40 in electronic trade overnight, more than $10 higher than the previous day’s record and up $28.70 on the week.
Gold Forecast For 2008
Funny Money Report
January 8, 2008
Back in April 2007 we projected a high for the year of $869.64 for gold. Although gold did not hit that level in 2007, the November 8th close was $841.10 and $833.30 at year end. Today’s close on January 2nd, of $856.50 brings us very near our forecasted price.
With gold in all time high territory, oil hitting $100.00 a barrel, enthusiasm does not seem to be overwhelming in the precious metal arena. Gold is still selling for little more than 8 times the price of oil. Based on our analysis we believe gold will hit a high of $1014.00 sometime in 2008.
The Federal Reserve is doing its best to prevent a collapse of the banking system, but in the process will continue to burn the dollar. As the dollar declines gold ascends. Fiat currencies trade against each other, while gold moves higher against them all. The true flight to quality means owning things that are real and liquid. This means gold, silver, and large commodity based equities.
For 2008 we expect precious metal equities to perform better than in 2007. Some of the poor performance was due to the increasing costs of mineral extraction which include higher fuel and material expenses. Higher prices for gold should start to outpace increased costs, leading to improved equity returns.
We expect gold, food, and most basic commodities to move higher throughout 2008. We continue to recommend bullion in your physical possession and cash on hand for emergencies. Pay particular attention to your FDIC coverage, and consider safe alternatives like savings bonds instead of bank CD’s.
For 2008 we think that the economy will continue to deteriorate, with real estate leading the way down. We are in the 2nd inning of a long ugly ballgame where those holding dollars, real estate, and high levels of debt will be praying for the game to end. Those players who are out of debt and holding a commodity based portfolio will be winners in 2008 and years to come.
Gold May Hit $1000 If It Begins Trading At Its Normal Ratio To The Oil Price
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=222354
China’s Stock Market Heading For Crash?
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3321423.ece
Bush Meets With Plunge Protection Team
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=5936
Gold is the new global currency
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/301c1..l?nclick_check=1
Collapse of the U.S. Dollar: Gold futures surge to new all-time record high
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gold-futu..e&dist=printTop
Pending Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Fell in November
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new..pXVernpcSqw
Bad news piles up for British economy
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8U16LJO0.htm
No Jobs for the New Economy
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01082008.html
Citigroup to Take $16 Billion Writedown, Merrill Says
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2..sv8&refer=worldwide
Fed Boosts Next Two Special Auctions to $30 Billion
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..JoePynybzGg&refer=home
Unemployment Surge Clear Sign U.S. Is Headed For Recession: Economists
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/..05econ.html?hp
Stephen Roach: America’s inflated asset prices have to fall
Peter Schiff on Cashin’ In – (1/5/2008)
Forget Oil New Crisis Is Food
Recession fears stoke political debate
Jobless Rate Hits Two-Year High; The Last Shoe to Drop in the Unavoidable Recession Ahead
Baltimore Sun asks what will we do if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bust?
Sinking dollar alters the game in 2008
UK: Millions Face Financial Crisis
War on Terror Costs $6,000 Per Second
Gold Peaks Above $861, Oil $100 a Barrel
Oil at $100 not our fault: OPEC
No End In Sight For Dollar Decline
U.S. Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes for December 11, Says Economic Outlook Is “Unusually Uncertain”
Citigroup May Write Down $12 Billion, Bernstein Says
U.S. Manufacturing Fails To Grow
Era Of Cheap Food Is Over
Chinese currency hits new high against U.S. dollar
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous: how $100bn vanished
Wall Street Start To Year Worst In 25 Years
New Year 2008 may destroy USA’s struggling economy
City of debt shows US housing woe
Mortgage Defaults Rise 35%
Top economist says America could plunge into recession
Venezuela Introduces New Currency
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, Nigeria, nymex, Oil, OPEC, Pakistan, Petrol, Saudi Arabia, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, Venezuela, Wall Street, Yen
January 3, 2008
TRADITIONALLY, the beginning of the year is a time for bargain-hunters to snap up excess stock on the cheap. Not, this year, on the commodity markets. On Tuesday January 2nd, the first business day of the new year, oil breached $100 a barrel for the first time. Gold, at the same time, reached a record price of over $861 an ounce. The immediate catalysts for the rising prices were ongoing turmoil in places like Nigeria and Pakistan and the continuing slump of the dollar. To those holding euros or yen, the weakening dollar makes oil and gold look cheaper; they can bid up prices in dollar terms without spending any more of their own currency. Moreover, gold, and nowadays oil too, is seen as a haven when the dollar is weak—so the latter’s drop may be accelerating the former’s rise.Gold is also seen as a haven more broadly, from political turmoil, inflation and all-round economic malaise. Gloomy news from America, where house prices are falling and manufacturing is contracting, have prompted fears of a full-blown recession. The economies of emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East are still chugging along, but analysts are cutting growth forecasts for them too. Normally, the worsening outlook for the world economy would prompt commodity prices to fall, on the assumption that demand for most goods will soon be slowing. But demand for oil continues to rise quickly in booming spots such as China and the Gulf states. These countries make matters worse by artificially inflating demand for petrol through subsidies or price caps, which leave consumers with little incentive to drive less even as the oil price surges.
Western oil companies, saddled with rising prices for everything from engineers to truck tyres—and in some cases, outright shortages—are struggling to pump more oil. They have also been excluded from the most promising terrain for exploration by nationalist regimes, which are increasingly reluctant to share their wealth with outsiders. Those same regimes seem in no hurry to increase their output, partly because they realise that their sluggishness is helping to keep prices high. But publicly, at least, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries argues that oil at $100 is the result not of a shortage of supply but of financial speculation.
There might be some truth in that: in recent years, the volume of oil traded on markets such as New York’s Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) has risen out of all proportion to the amount consumed. Hedge and pension funds and even individual investors have been piling into commodities of late. This influx of money could be exaggerating the market’s gyrations. Indeed, oil only topped $100 in a single transaction before falling back.
Politics is not helping either. A surge in violence in the oil-rich but restive Niger Delta in Nigeria over the New Year’s holiday helped to propel the oil price to three figures. Since the world has few idle oil wells, and relatively low stocks, even minor disturbances in producing countries prompt sharp jumps in the price. The traders at NYMEX, for example, pore over every diplomatic statement concerning Iran’s disputed nuclear programme to see if they can detect a heightening of tensions.
All this makes life particularly difficult for the world’s central bankers. High oil prices, after all, further blight the economic outlook by reducing consumers’ spending power. Yet they also stoke inflation, making it harder to cut interest rates. It is proving a gloomy new year for them too.
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessN…ws&rpc=23&sp=true
No End In Sight For Dollar Decline
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?…NmeaC6FGP8&refer=home
U.S. Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes for December 11, Says Economic Outlook Is “Unusually Uncertain”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..=aiQpBq6FpVCE&refer=home
Citigroup May Write Down $12 Billion, Bernstein Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/..d=aNjYH4i1I8Y8&refer=finance
U.S. Manufacturing Fails To Grow
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n…=anLEam9Tw4Ik&refer=home
Era Of Cheap Food Is Over
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1231/p13s01-wogi.html
Chinese currency hits new high against U.S. dollar
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/02/content_7352499.htm
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous: how $100bn vanished
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/31/subprimecrisis.creditcrunch
Wall Street Start To Year Worst In 25 Years
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/222d091…2ac,s01=1.html?nclick_check=1
New Year 2008 may destroy USA’s struggling economy
http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/103144-0/
City of debt shows US housing woe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7164898.stm
Mortgage Defaults Rise 35%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n…i7SbPeUP3Q&refer=us
Top economist says America could plunge into recession
http://business.timesonline.co.uk…mics/article3111659.ece
Venezuela Introduces New Currency
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14582431
Filed under: 2008 Election, al-qaeda, bilderberg, Cintra, citigroup, colombia, Credit Suisse, Fred Thompson, global elite, Globalism, Goldman Sachs, GOP, Greg Abbott, Mexico, Michael Mukasey, money laundering, NAFTA Superhighway, neocons, North American Union, Pakistan, Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Texas, Toll Roads, TTC, TxU, Vicente Fox | Tags: Cliff Kincaid, Gonzáles Parás, Greg Abbott, Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala, Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Macquarie, Mary Peters, PAC, spain, Terri Hall, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, Texas Pacific Group Hafiz Naseem, tony garza, TURF
The Ties That Bind Rick Perry & Rudy Giuliani
Aaron Dykes
JonesReport
December 14, 2007
As Texas Governor Rick Perry goes on the road to stump for Giuliani’s campaign, it is increasingly clear that the two figureheads not only share a penchant for presiding over thinly-veiled corruption, but do their presiding in the same globalist circles.
Perry’s appearance at the secretive Bilderberg meeting in 2007 gives credence to whispers about the Texas Governor becoming a GOP running mate alongside Giuliani, even as Perry denies interest in being VP. Bilderberg has a noted and well-deserved reputation as kingmaker.
Together, Rick Perry, as Governor, and Rudy Giuliani, as a named partner in the Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani, have been instrumental in selling off Texas infrastructure and utilities while ushering in agents of globalism and (North American Union) regional control.
TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR
Giuliani’s law firm is heavily tied to Rick Perry’s Texas-style ‘Big Dig’– a highly contentious and very real Trans-Texas Corridor that has foreign firms building up on land seized in the face of opposition from both the state legislature and the people.
Bracewell & Giuliani is exclusively representing the Spanish-owned Cintra and essentially won the contract to build the first ever private toll road in Texas. The Online Journal refers to Bracewell & Giuliani as “the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121”
Cintra is further partnered with the Australian company Macquarie, who “previously acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors,” according to Cliff Kincaid who further observes:
Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that Giuliani clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign. She comments, “This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President.“
Perry’s advocacy for the TTC has been unwavering and he has refused to back down even after the legislature passed a two-year moratorium. Perry called in U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters to lobby against the moratorium while publicly declaring that there is no alternative to toll roads (Peters has, of course, been present at a number of NAFTA super-highway meetings as well).
Bracewell & Giuliani gave Rick Perry $20,000 in PAC money in the 2006 cycle. Current Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was also a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, which Lobby Watch suggests was related to his run for office after stepping down from the Texas Supreme Court. He received $25,000 in PAC contributions in the 2006 cycle.
TxU BUYOUT
As we previously reported, the ‘largest ever’ buyout of TxU (now slashed from $45 billion to $32 billion) was managed by KKR, who are represented annually at Bilderberg by partner Henry Kravis.
“Energy Future bought TXU Corp. in a $32 billion leveraged buyout that closed in October. It was formed by Kohlberg, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., TPG, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and other investors,” reports the Dallas Morning News.
The deal stalled over environmental issues with TxU’s plans for new coal plants, but never faltered thanks to cheerleading by Rick Perry as well as personal appearances by Henry Kravis, who is known as a virtuoso in the world of leveraged buyouts (see Barbarians at the Gate which dramatizes his infamous high-priced buyout with R.J. Reynolds and also features a younger but no less-aged Fred Thompson).
Governor Perry was involved in facilitating the TxU buyout, including the issuance of an executive order to instigate fast-track approval for TxU plant deals:
“Last year, after private meetings with TXU executives, Perry fast-tracked the permitting process for TXU’s 11-plant expansion through an executive order, slashing the time frame in half, to six months….”
“The bottom line: Only Governor Perry and TXU, which stands to make a lot of money, are championing these plants.”
Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston (both deeply nested in Bilderberg) were also involved in the deal while Bracewell & Giuliani represented TxU (as they handle a number of energy companies). A number of criminal insider trading cases involving Pakistani financiers working inside these firms– including Hafiz Naseem– have already been prosecuted as a result of the buyout. Others, still under investigation, are potentially outstanding.
In fact, Hafiz Naseem, then a Credit Suisse investor, was defended by Bracewell & Giuliani’s Marc Mukasey, who is the son of U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Bracewell’s Mukasey commented that the “case is inference built on inference built on inference.” However, prosecutors were investigating other links to alleged inside trading that went as high as Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz, who is also a former Citigroup chairman. Investigators also believe there was a link to al Qaeda money laundering.
MEXICO
And what about Mexico? If a continent-wide merger is underway, it seems to coincide with the cozy relationship Perry and Vicente Fox had as contemporaries. As WND reports, the vision to expand the Corridor into Mexico is heavily discussed and well under way.
On May 24, Gonzáles Parás announced during his recent meetings in Austin, Perry had agreed the envisioned Trans North America Corridor would pass through Laredo and connect with San Antonio, just as Mexico ultimately planned to extend the superhighway south into Colombia.
Note also that the current U.S. ambassador to Mexico is none other than Bracewell & Giuliani partner Tony Garza (who is, incidentally, married to Mexico’s richest woman, billionaire Grupo Modelo heiress María Asunción Aramburuzabala).
What is the ‘North American Union’?
Filed under: 2008 Election, bernanke, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, food prices, foreclosure, freddie mac, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, imf, Inflation, infrastructure, interest rate cuts, morgan stanley, Paulson, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, UAE, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury
Bernanke Clears Way For Fed Rate Cut
Financial Times
November 30, 2007
Ben Bernanke put the Federal Reserve on a path towards a December rate cut in a speech on Thursday night in which he said the relapse in financial markets had resulted in a “tightening in financial conditions” that had the potential to harm the real economy.
The Fed chairman also said recent data on household spending had been “on the soft side” and warned that the combination of higher petrol prices, the weak housing market, tighter credit conditions and declines in stock prices seem likely to create some headwinds for the consumer in the months ahead.
Paulson’s Plan to Punish the Public
The Motley Fool
November 30, 2007
If you don’t learn from the past …
If the mortgage crisis and housing bubble have taught us one thing, it should be to watch out for the unintended consequences of greed. Unfortunately, our nation’s legislators and political appointees haven’t learned that lesson. Recent plans for housing and mortgage bailouts generally run from dumb to dumber. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported on yet another scheme, reportedly being spearheaded by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. It’s an idea so naively populist and antimarket that you would think it came from Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if not for its cringe-inducing, Beltway-wonk moniker: the Hope Now Alliance.
In short, bankers and loan-servicing outfits are going to lower interest rates on strapped borrowers so they don’t lose their houses. How much, how long, and who qualifies are all still up in the air. No doubt, this will sound good to those folks who signed on for mortgages they can’t actually afford. It will also look good to politicians angling to score points before the next election, and to bleeding hearts everywhere. It will also look good to select mortgage-industry players — like Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C), which could really use a government-led bailout.
Unfortunately, this ill-conceived salve will ultimately punish the silent majority of Americans, people who didn’t go out and make boneheaded financial decisions over the past half-decade. Let’s take a look at why.
Price tag in mortgage crisis is looking like real money
http://www.latimes.com/bu…la-home-center
Foreclosure fallout: Renters forced out of lost homes
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/30/willis.rentervictims/index.html
Shadow Mortgage Bailout Already in Progress
http://efinancedirectory.com/articles/Sha…_Progress.html
U.S. Government, Banks Near a Plan to Freeze Subprime Rates
http://cryptogon.com/?p=1662
UK: Trouble ahead for the economy
http://www.thebusiness.co.uk/the-m…economy.thtml
IMF Warns Of UK Recession
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articl….NG-OPEN.XML
Video: “Food Banks Nationwide Face Shortages”
http://www.thought-criminal.org/article/node/1021
In the long run, value of paper currencies is zero
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10208445
More bad news for the dollar as the UAE gets ready to dump it
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/…p-it_1006967.html
China’s attempt to convert its U.S. Treasury holdings into euros
http://www.m-cam.com/display_news?id=240
Growth in Consumer Spending Slows While Construction Activity Drops Sharply
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071130/economy.html
Goldman Sachs Says To Short Gold In 08
http://www.reportonbusiness.c…wgoldman1129
Treasury Close to Subprime Aid Plan
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22039476
Morgan Stanley may face $5.7 billion Q4 writeoff
http://www.reuters.com/article/bankin….EN275220071130
New Home Prices: Worst Drop In 37 Years
http://money.cnn.com/2007/1…./?postversion=2007112912
More than 50,000 Lost Their Homes in October
http://money.cnn.com/2007/….rsion=2007112905
China wins from credit crunch fallout
Fed pumps $8bn into market to head off new crunch
ECB injects £35bn into markets
Foreclosures Up 165% In FLA
Oil Surges After Pipeline Bursts
U.S. incomes fall, spending flat in October
Gazprom May Switch Sales to Rubles as Dollar Weakens
US Dollar: No Longer the World’s Currency?
A diary of the onset of the Greater Depression
Gold Slips Under $800, Oil Plummets $94 on Firmer Dollar
Foreclosures Will Create Ghost Towns
As credit dries up in U.S., concerns mount about recession
Sterling falls vs recovering dollar
Oil Producers See the World and Buy It Up
Fed Official Warns Of Wall Street Turmoil
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Bet your bottom dollar tensions will follow
Housing woes have domino effect
The Next Big Bankruptcy
88% Erosion of the Dollar’s Purchasing Power
Video: Money As Debt
Forecast: U.S. Dollar Could Plunge 90 Percent
Gold sees 2-week peak as investors run for safety
Forex – Euro retreats after Friday’s failure at 1.50 usd
Retail Stocks Fall; Black Friday Spending Seen Lower
U.S. dollar may be nearing nadir on charts
Oil Prices Rise Near $99 As Temps Fall
Don’t look now: Here comes the recession
The Real Reason why Stocks are Plunging
The plunging greenback threatens to cripple U.S. power. Why are the candidates ignoring this critical issue?
1000% Hedge Fund Wins Subprime Bet
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: citigroup, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, general motors, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy
Forecast: U.S. Dollar Could Plunge 90 Percent
UPI
November 19, 2007
RHINEBECK, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) — A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.
“We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen,” Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a “Panic of 2008.”
“The bigger they are, the harder they’ll fall,” he said in an interview with New York’s Hudson Valley Business Journal.
Celente — who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the dollar’s decline a year ago and gold’s current rise in May — told the newspaper the subprime mortgage meltdown was just the first “small, high-risk segment of the market” to collapse.
Derivative dealers, hedge funds, buyout firms and other market players will also unravel, he said.
Massive corporate losses, such as those recently posted by Citigroup Inc. and General Motors Corp., will also be fairly common “for some time to come,” he said.
He said he would not “be surprised if giants tumble to their deaths,” Celente said.
The Panic of 2008 will lead to a lower U.S. standard of living, he said.
A result will be a drop in holiday spending a year from now, followed by a permanent end of the “retail holiday frenzy” that has driven the U.S. economy since the 1940s, he said.
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, Bank of England, Big Banks, Britain, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, global economy, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Joseph Stiglitz, Merrill Lynch, Northern Rock, Paulson, pound, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, wells fargo, Yen
Dollar Decline “Irreversible”
The Independent
November 17, 2007
The decline of the dollar, symbol of US global hegemony for the best part of a century, may have become so entrenched that some experts now fear it is irreversible.
After months of huge and sustained turmoil on the money markets, lack of confidence in the world’s totemic currency has become so widespread that an increasing number of international traders are transferring their wealth to stronger currencies such as the euro, which recently hit its highest level against the dollar.
“An American businessman over here who is given the choice would take anything but the dollar,” David Buik of Cantor Index said yesterday. “I would want to be paid in yen, and if not yen then the euro or sterling.”
Matthew Osborne, of Armstrong International, added: “The majority would say sterling. There are a few dealers in the City who may take the view that they’ll take dollars now, while they’re cheap, and hold on to them for 12 months.
“But the problem is so serious that there are people who in July or August might have been thinking, ‘I’m paid in dollars, how annoying’ for whom it’s now a question of, ‘Do you have a job; do you have a bonus?’ “
The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the US, which is fuelling the dollar unrest, has already brought down one British bank, Northern Rock, and has forced others to declare vast losses. Yesterday, just as it appeared that the dollar might have finally reached its floor, there was another warning that the sub-prime crisis is going to get worse. The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, warned an international business summit in South Africa: “The sub-prime market, parts of it will get worse before it gets better.” Huge numbers of US homeowners are still cushioned by introductory interest rates set when they took out loans in 2005 or 2006, he said. When these introductory offers run out, their interest payments will increase, setting off another wave of defaulting and repossessions. And the dollar is enduring its rockiest spell in recent memory.
Goldman Sees Subprime Cutting $2 Trillion in Lending
Bloomberg
November 16, 2007
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — The slump in global credit markets may force banks, brokerages and hedge funds to cut lending by $2 trillion and trigger a “substantial recession” in the U.S., according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Losses related to record home foreclosures using a “back- of-the-envelope” calculation may be as high as $400 billion for financial companies, Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at Goldman in New York wrote in a report dated yesterday. The effects may be amplified tenfold as companies that borrowed to finance their investments scale back lending, the report said.
“The likely mortgage credit losses pose a significantly bigger macroeconomic risk than generally recognized,” Hatzius wrote. “It is easy to see how such a shock could produce a substantial recession” or “a long period of very sluggish growth,” he wrote.
Goldman’s forecast reduction in lending is equivalent to 7 percent of total U.S. household, corporate and government debt, hurting an economy already beset by the slowing housing market. Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf said yesterday that the property market is the worst since the Great Depression.
Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank, and Merrill Lynch & Co. have led companies writing down more than $50 billion on securities linked to subprime mortgages. The risk of further losses by banks has pushed their borrowing costs above the average for investment-grade companies, according to Merrill Lynch indexes. Citigroup paid bondholders the highest yield relative to benchmark interest rates in its history this week.
Will Dow-gold ratio hit one-to-one again?
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/276972
Markets poised for severe fall: Bank of England
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/mon….cnking115.xml
Stiglitz: Greenspan To Blame For Crisis
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?…6mHrJk&refer=us
Wells Fargo: Housing worst since Great Depression
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7080215
China State TV To Viewers: Dump The Dollar
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/…p-dollar.html
Cost Of The Crunch $2 Trillion, Says Goldman
http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/16/gold….ed=rss_news
Goldman Sees Subprime Cutting $2 Trillion in Lending
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new…A&refer=home
Suddenly ‘world’s biggest financial institutions are paying more to borrow in the corporate bond market than the average company’
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…fqw&refer=home
Investors Should Spank Banks for Betraying Trust
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news….4&refer=home
Pound Poised for Biggest Weekly Drop Against Dollar Since 2005
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new…8&refer=uk
Warning over rate rise by ‘devious’ lenders
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.j…1/17/nrates117.xml
Fed Pumps $47bn Into System, Goldman Sachs Warns Recession
http://noworldsystem.com/2007/11/17/fed…s-recession/
Gold falls below $800 and Oil Slides $94 a Barrel
http://noworldsystem.com/2007/11/16/g…-a-barrel/
Jim Rogers Urges People To Sell Dollars
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps…d=aXH9wCx1oydw
Gold steadies as bargain hunters resurface
Gulf states’ dollar peg comes under threat
Pound hits fresh 4-yr low vs euro after weak data
Economists in poll expect credit turmoil to continue: WSJ
UK: Fastest rise in food prices for 14 years
Forex – Pound sinks as Oct retail sales show flagging sentiment
Bank’s grim warning over UK economy
Consumer inflation posts increase
Inflation, gold: Back to the 1970s?
Goldman Sachs bets credit crisis will worsen
British taxpayers face paying £730 EACH to cover Northern Rock in plans to ‘nationalise’ bank
Carnage on Wall Street as loans go bad
Treasury Market Inflation Anxiety Renewed
‘Sub-prime black hole is getting scarier’
California, Ohio, Florida Cities Lead U.S. Foreclosure Filings
US dollar will get stronger: Bush
Dollar to stay anchor of China’s reserves: Chinese official
When I start seeing Jay-Z flashing euros instead of the dollar, I know our economy is in trouble
Talk of Worst Recession Since the 1930s
Recession fears grow as inventories swell
Recession fears grow as inventories swellOECD Says the Full Effect of the Sub-Prime Mess is Still in Front of Us
MBIA, Ambac Downgrades May Cost Market $200 Billion
Paulson Becomes Boxed-in by `Strong’ Dollar Chant
88% Erosion and Purchasing Power
Bear Stearns Cuts Subprime Assets, Limits Writedown
Orlando Foreclosure Filings Up 184%
Judge rules against the banks!?
Crude Oil = $98; Gold = $845
Wall Street Sees Worst Weekly Point Loss Since 9/11
Gold bounces above $800 after 1 percent drop
It’s the FIRE Economy, stupid
Dollar Crisis: None dare call it ‘conspiracy’
Subprime Losses May Reach $300/400 Bil
Sterling falls as risk aversion leads to carry unwind
Time for the White House to Rescue the Dollar?
Bets against the dollar unlikely to slow this quarter
Even a weakened dollar still rules
World stocks hit 8-week low
With the dollar’s fall, intervention idea gains force
Currency Controls Return as Central Banks Fight Gains
The Risk of a Systemic Shock to the System is “Alarmingly High” – Morgan Stanley
Wall Street’s money machine breaks down
Oil Price Rise Causes Global Shift in Wealth
Global credit crisis intensifies
Ron Paul to Bernanke: How can we solve inflation with more inflation?
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, Australia, canadian dollar, canadian economy, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, George Bush, george soros, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, loonie, Oil, Petrol, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy
Gold hits fresh peaks near $850, Oil hits $98 a barrel
Forbes
November 7, 2007
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Gold raced to a series of fresh 28-year highs and is currently just 1 pct below its historic peak as the dollar sank against major currencies and record oil prices stoked inflation jitters.
The precious metal moves in the opposite direction to the dollar as gold is seen as an alternative asset and moves in line with high oil prices as investors hedge against energy-led inflation.
The weak dollar, which hit yet another low against the euro this morning, spurred buying as it made commodities denominated in the greenback cheaper for those trading in other currencies.
At 10.16 am, spot gold was trading at 839.38 usd an ounce, against 821.30 usd in late New York trade yesterday, having earlier hit 845.58 usd, its fresh peak in almost 30 years.
Analysts are now calling for the metal to hit and even surpass 850 usd, the all time high set in January 1980.
‘With this weaker dollar we will see it (gold) push through 850 usd and even 860 usd today,’ said Ben Coleman, commodities trader at Trade Index. ‘Currency is having a big call on what’s going on with gold, oil and metals,’ he said.
Meanwhile, risk aversion in the equity markets, as fears the US subprime debacle will mean slower growth going ahead, sparked a rush towards safer assets like gold.
‘As long as the financial markets remain fragile and investors risk averse, gold prices will be a beneficiary in our view,’ said HSBC (nyse: HBC – news – people ) analyst James Steel.
Looking ahead, oil is expected to top 100 usd a barrel in the very near future. Today, markets will see if US crude stocks are shown to have fallen last week, as expected, in a weekly report due out at 3.30 pm London time.
New York’s WTI benchmark hit a record of 98.43 usd a barrel this morning, sparking already intense fears inflation is going to impact markets.
‘The flood of speculative cash pouring into oil has resulted in a breach of 100 usd a barrel very much on the cards for today,’ said Bank of Ireland (nyse: IRE – news – people ) analyst, Paul Harris (nyse: HRS – news – people ).
Gold has gained over 30 pct since January, oil’s price has almost doubled and the dollar has lost over 10 pct of its value against the euro since the start of this year.
With the yellow metal near its all time record, not many participants are calling a price top.
‘If we see a sell-off it will be aggressive,’ said Coleman at Trade Index. ‘(But) levels here mean it’s hard to pick a top.’
Elsewhere, other precious metals surged, following in gold’s footsteps and as they garnered strength from the dollar’s weakness.
Silver is now comfortably over 15 usd, previously seen as key resistance level, platinum hit a record high and palladium hit its highest price since April.
Silver was trading at 15.86 usd an ounce against 15.32 usd in New York yesterday, having hit 16.18 usd — its highest price since April last year.
Platinum was steady at 1,471 usd an ounce from 1,472 usd, having earlier set a historic peak at 1489.50 usd. Palladium rose to 376 usd from 375 usd, after striking its highest price of the year of 384.50 usd.
Dollar Slumps to Record on China’s Plans to Diversify Reserves
Bloomberg
November 7, 2007
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — The dollar fell the most since September against the currencies of its six biggest trading partners after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation’s $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.
The dollar fell against all 16 of the most-active currencies, declining to the weakest versus the Canadian dollar since the end of a fixed exchange rate in 1950, a 26-year low against the pound and a 23-year low versus the Australian dollar. The New York Board of Trade’s dollar index dropped to 75.21 today, the lowest since the gauge started in March 1973.
“Further weakening of the dollar is very likely,” said Teis Knuthsen, the Copenhagen-based head of foreign-exchange, fixed-income and derivative research at Danske Bank A/S, the Nordic region’s second-biggest lender. China may “diversify out of dollar holdings.”
The U.S. currency slumped to $1.4704 per euro, the lowest since the 13-nation currency debuted in January 1999, before trading at $1.4671 as of 7:15 a.m. in New York, from $1.4557 late yesterday. The dollar dropped the most in two months against the yen, trading as low as 112.87 yen. The euro fell against the yen to 165.84, from 166.99 yesterday.
The U.S. dollar index may be due for a reversal, according to a technical indicator. Its 14-day relative-strength measure fell to 21.38 today, below the 30 mark, which may signal the currency’s decline has bottomed out.
In technical analysis, investors and analysts study charts of trading patterns and prices to forecast changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.
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Filed under: Charles Prince, citigroup, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury
Citigroup chief quits as sub-prime losses rocket
“It is my judgment that, given the size of the recent losses in our mortgage-backed securities business, the only honorable course for me to take . . . is to step down,”
Telegraph
November 6, 2007
The financial impact of the sub-prime crisis on Citigroup has spiralled to as much as $17bn (£8.5bn) in a matter of weeks, plunging the world’s biggest bank into turmoil and prompting the resignation of chief executive Charles Prince.
Citigroup late last night detailed the size of the hit it will take in the fourth quarter, alongside news that chief executive Charles “Chuck” Prince is to be replaced by Robert Rubin and Sir Win Bischoff as chairman and temporary chief executive respectively.
In addition to the $5.9bn of write-downs it took in the third quarter, Citigroup will take a further $8bn to $11bn of write-downs as a result of the reduced value of the sub-prime and leveraged loan assets sitting on its balance sheet.
The financial hit means Citigroup is by far the biggest victim of the global credit crisis to date.
It is understood that in recent weeks, Mr Prince, backed by chief financial officer Gary Crittenden and investment banking and alternative assets head Vikram Pandit, moved to ensure a full revaluation of all of its assets.
As a result, it became increasingly clear that the write-downs required in the fourth quarter are far more substantial than anyone in the industry had previously estimated.
In a separate statement to that which detailed Mr Prince’s resignation, Citigroup revealed that it has approximately $55bn tied up in sub-prime related exposures.
In a separate statement to that which detailed Mr Prince’s resignation, Citigroup revealed that it has approximately $55bn tied up in sub-prime related exposures.
The lender went on to say that it estimates the reduction to its revenues as a result of the reduced values of these assets ranged from $8-11bn, or $5-7bn in net income after tax.
“These declines in the fair value of Citi’s sub-prime related direct exposures followed a series of rating agency downgrades of sub-prime U.S. mortgage related assets and other market developments, which occurred after the end of the third quarter,” the statement explained.
The bank, the world’s largest by assets, is to establish a new unit to solely focus on managing sub-prime mortgage related assets and their exposures.
It is to be kept entirely separate from the other parts of Citigroup’s capital markets and banking business, in part to ensure the valuations of such assets are kept entirely independent.
However the bank was at pains to point out that, contrary to a research note from CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney last week, it expects to keep its capital ratios within the range of targeted level by the end of the second quarter 2008.
It also stressed that it has no plans to reduce its current dividend level, countering claims by Ms Whitney.
Messrs Rubin and Bischoff are due to detail their plans for Citigroup during a conference call with analysts and the media in New York, scheduled for 8am (1pm GMT).
Mr Rubin, the former US Treasury Secretary, is now Citigroup’s permanent chairman, and has pledged to work with the board to return Citigroup to stability.
“We will continue to focus on taking the steps necessary to help our employees realize their full potential, serve our customers with distinction, and build superior value for all of our shareholders.”
Sir Win, the former chairman of Schroders and, until last night, chairman of Citigroup’s European business, said he wanted to grow Citigroup by executing its existing plans.
Mr Rubin will form part of a four-man special committee, appointed by the wider board, who will search for a permanent chief executive.
The other members are Time Warner chief executive Richard Parsons, Alcoa chairman Alain Belda, and Franklin Thomas, a consultant for TFF Study Group.
Bank worries haunt global markets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7078404.stm
Stocks Fall Sharply Amid Credit Concerns
http://ap.google.com/articl…bWfgPT08MAD8SNINE01
Citi faces $11 billion write-down
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing…spx
Filed under: Canada, canadian dollar, canadian economy, central bank, Charles Prince, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Deutsche Bank, Draft, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, foreclosures, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, loonie, Merrill Lynch, Oil, peak oil, Petrol, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taiwan, UBS, US Economy
Relative of Merrill Lynch Founder Predicts Stock Market Crash
Kerri Panchuk
DSNews
October 30, 2007
In a market where fears over the subprime shakedown are spreading pessimism nationwide, Charles Merrill, the cousin of the man who founded Merrill Lynch & Co., is predicting a stock market crash that will put the 1929 crash to shame.
Merrill, in an exclusive interview with a financial author, said, “There is going to be a major stock market crash, so protect your assets. Buy physical gold and hide it.”
Merrill also discussed all the changes at Merrill Lynch that indicate a potential market crises—even alluding to the company’s chief executive officer, who stepped down this week.
“Merrill Lynch is crashing, due to the ineptness of the CEO,” Merrill said. “No matter who is running Merrill Lynch & Co., it’s going to need a regimen of restraint and recuperation after getting badly bruised by the global credit market shakedown. I predict a house of dominos, and the whole stock market is going to crash.”
Lynch’s less-than-encouraging remarks were part of an interview with writer Michael Grace, who is writing a book called, “The Final Great Depression.”
During the interview, Merrill concluded, “There is so much wealth in Palm Springs … from inherited to funny money, and I’m advising my friends to buy gold. Grace’s book on the ‘final depression’ sounds like a novel or fantasy but unfortunately it is a picture of our horrible future here in America. My cousin Charlie must be turning over in his grave.”
Oil Crisis in Summer ’09: War in Iran. Gasoline rationing. A military draft. A Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Double-digit inflation and unemployment
Herald Tribune
November 2, 2007
WASHINGTON: War in Iran. Gasoline rationing. A military draft. A Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Double-digit inflation and unemployment. The draining of the strategic petroleum reserve.
This is where current energy policy is going in the United States, according to a nightmare scenario played out as a policy-making exercise on Thursday by a group of former top government officials.
Two bipartisan business-supported groups sponsored an elaborately staged role-playing game called Oil ShockWave that tried to dramatize the effect of American dependence on oil imported from unstable and unfriendly parts of the world.
The organizers have an agenda: They hope to prompt Congress to act on energy legislation and to push the issue into the presidential campaign.
CDS traders warn of ‘blood on streets’
BBC
October 27, 2007
The mood in credit derivatives markets turned ugly on Thursday, with the cost of insuring corporate debt hitting multi-week highs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Speculation was rife that leading major investment banks were facing additional losses linked to complex mortgage-backed securities, while worries mounted over the health of major financial guarantors.
“It’s scary out there — there’s blood on the streets,” a trader at a US brokerage said. “It’s a real mess.”
In the US, the perceived risk of owning corporate debt jumped to a seven-week high, with the cost to insure a $10m portfolio of investment-grade debt reaching $67,000, data from Phoenix Partners Group showed.
Confidence in Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, as measured by their credit default swaps, slumped to lows not seen since the height of the credit squeeze in August.
Five-year credit default swaps tied to Citigroup widened to 60 basis points, meaning it cost $60,000 annually to insure Citigroup’s debt against default for five years. A couple of weeks ago, that figure stood at $27,000.
Contracts on Merrill Lynch, which last week posted the largest quarterly loss in its 93-year history, rose $18,000 to $103,000. CDS on UBS rose 10bp to 51bp, Deutsche Bank said. The contracts stood at about 6bp in May. Contracts on Credit Suisse rose 4bp to 52bp from 10bp in June.
Bond insurers, or monolines, were also hit hard.
“[These triple-A rated companies are] exposed to the crumbling housing market,” said Gavan Nolan, an analyst at derivatives data provider Markit. “Investors in monolines will be waiting for the coming months of housing data with trepidation,” Mr Nolan said.
CDS on MBIA Insurance rocketed to a four-year high, of 345bp, CMA Datavision said.
Last week the insurer posted $36.6m net loss and halted its share buy-back programme.
Contracts on the bond insurance unit of Ambac Financial climbed to a five-year high of 310bp.
Gimme Credit, an independent research term, downgraded both MBIA and Ambac this week.
In Europe, the iTraxx Crossover index of 50 mostly high-yield companies widened by 18 bp to 338bp, the biggest rise since August, according to Deutsche Bank data.
The iTraxx Europe index, which tracks 125 investment-grade companies, rose 3.75bp to 41bp. It was the biggest one-day jump since early September.
Related News:
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http://today.reuters.com/news/article.IGR..TING-UPDATE-5.XML
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Filed under: Australia, Bank of England, Britain, central bank, citigroup, Credit Crisis, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, global economy, gold, Great Depression, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, liquidation, middle class, Oil, Stock Market, US Economy
Welcome To The “$1,000 Gold” Fan Club
Kevin A. DeMeritt
Ezine Articles
October 23, 2007
The $1,000 gold fan club? Absolutely. And, as far as fan clubs go, this one’s membership is swelling daily. There’s no question that the number of financial analysts who see gold topping the $1,000 mark have suddenly become as common as Tom Brady touchdown passes. But whether these folks are newcomers to the gold bandwagon or have been riding confidently along for years, it is remarkable just how many analysts now see nothing but good for gold.
Here, for example, is what a few $1,000 gold prognosticators have to say…
• The Falling Dow/Gold Ratio. The Dow/Gold Ratio – the number of gold ounces it takes to buy one share of the Dow Jones Index – has fallen from 42 in 2000 to nearly 19 in 2007. “What is interesting,” said analyst Dr. Marc Farber, “is that despite the stock market’s rebound since October 2002, the Dow/Gold Ratio has continued to decline. Simply put for the holder of gold – the world’s only honest currency, since it cannot be printed by some dishonest central banker – the Dow, although it increased in value in dollar terms, has continued to decline in gold terms with the result that, today, it ‘only’ takes 20 ounces of gold to buy one Dow Jones Industrial Average.
“Simply put, since 2000, gold has risen at a much faster clip than the Dow Jones and I would expect this out-performance to continue for the next few years until ‘gold currency’ holders will be able to buy one Dow Jones with just one ounce of gold.
“Now, you may think that I have become insane (but) I am convinced that the US Fed’s monetary policies will lead to exponentially widening wealth inequity and impoverish the majority of US households, which will then lead to social strife, protectionism, war, and the breakdown of the capitalistic system.
“However, if one considers that in 1932 and in 1980 one could indeed buy one Dow Jones Industrial Average with just one ounce of gold, then maybe my views are rather conservative. Possibly one will be able to buy, sometime in future, one Dow Jones with just half an ounce of gold!”
With that in mind, Farber believes we could be in store for a lot more than just $1,000 gold.
• In 1980 Dollars, Gold is Just Half-Price. John Hathaway, managing director of Tocqueville Asset Management, believes $1,000 gold isn’t far off. “I don’t think it will take much. Let’s not forget, in 1980 dollars, gold is less than half of its nominal price today.
“The disparity between the amount of paper that has been created since 1980 and the amount of gold that has been produced since then is just enormous. The ratio of financial assets to physical gold is at the low end of a historical range. If you were to mark all the gold to market that has ever been mined, which is a very conservative approach, and then take the valuation of all the global stock markets and all the global bond markets, gold represents about 3%, compared with a figure in the mid-20% range in 1980, which was the top of the bull market in gold and the beginning of the bull market in financial assets.
“Gold is a good value, certainly, at these prices, just based on the considerations we’ve discussed. Even if you don’t think worst-case outcomes are in the cards, gold is still rare and hard to find, and believe me, these companies are having the toughest times trying to maintain production, much less build it.”
• Central Banks Abandon Control of Gold. Two Citigroup metals analysts wrote that central banks faced a choice between a global recession and their continuing “control” of gold.
They chose to focus on staving off global recession.
“We believe that the policy resolution to the credit crunch will take the form of a massive, extended ‘reflationary rescue’ in a new cycle of global credit creation and competitive currency devaluation which could take gold to $1,000/oz or higher.”
• Slashing Interest Rates Will Only Add Fuel to the Fire
Analyst John Ing believes $1,000 gold is just on the horizon. His reasoning? Bankers are out of bullets when it comes to settling U.S. debt battles. “Ironically, while there is a crisis of confidence in the credit markets, the world is awash in liquidity due the gargantuan current account surpluses of China and other Asian countries as well as the Middle-East,” Ing wrote. “The problem however, is not the supply of surpluses, but the imbalance between the short term and long term obligations of the world’s biggest debtor and the United States.”
“As long as there is a lack of confidence in the short term, central banks are faced with the dilemma as to how to supply liquidity. Today, central banks continue to boost money supply but the monetary aggregates were already growing at double-digit levels and they had little room to maneuver. What is likely then is a dramatic reduction in interest rates, which will serve as a short term palliative. But this will not correct the imbalances. Central banks have tried to stabilize the global financial system by pumping large amounts of liquidity into the markets. To date, they have only addressed the symptoms of the underlying crisis. The situation will become even worse.”
• “Gold Is the Purist Play Against the Dollar”
When the former head of technical research at Citigroup predicts gold is heading not to $1,000, but to $3,000, it makes great sense to listen.
“Gold is the purest play against the dollar,” Louise Yamada, managing director of Yamada Technical Research Advisors said. She predicted gold would surpass $730 on its way to $3,000 inside of a decade.
• “Still Cheap Relative to Oil or Base Metals”
Australia’s Fat Prophets newsletter is another prominent member of the $1,000 gold fan club.
“We think the price could reach $850 an ounce by the end of the year, based on issues in the US housing market,” senior equities analyst Greg Canavan says. “US housing was an accident waiting to happen. We have also been forecasting an eventual price of $1000, and we would expect that in the first half of 2008.
“In the US, we expect further interest rate cuts. In Europe, the euro is getting stronger, with implications for exports. It could lead to a slowdown there,” he went on to say. “Also in Europe, the Bank of England had said it would not be bailing out lenders. But now it has been told that it must do so. So investors are seeing that gold is a fundamental store of wealth.”
Canavan added, “You should have 10 per cent of your portfolio in bullion or gold stocks. Also, it is considerably undervalued right now so it is more than just insurance. Despite being at more than 20-year highs it is still cheap relative to oil or base metals.”
• World Currencies “Becoming Increasingly Doubted
James Turk in his Freemarket Gold & Money Report believes $1,500 gold is possible.
“A blow-off leg in gold is looking increasingly likely once it clears $1,000. Think about this a moment. The US dollar is now trading at record lows, with no bottom in sight. Commodity prices are soaring, with wheat at over $9 per bushel and crude oil looking increasingly well supported over $80 per barrel. Gold is rising against all the world’s currencies, indicating that fiat national currencies backed by nothing but promises from over-indebted governments are becoming increasingly doubted. Britain just experienced the world’s biggest bank run since the 1930s. … We should be mentally prepared for the possibility that gold exceeds $1,000 within the next few months, and then just keeps climbing to a blow-off high.
“How high? A doubling of the gold price has happened before in blow-offs like the one I am describing, so $1,500 or more is not out of the question.”
So…where are you with your investments? Are you overly reliant on those worrisome “paper” investments at a time when more and more people want to hold something of authentic value in their hands? If that’s the case – and even if you’ve never joined a fan club your entire life – today may be the perfect time to become a member of the $1,000 gold fan club.
Whisperings of a gold conspiracy
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071025/cleisure/cleisure3.html
Filed under: Big Banks, citigroup, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, engineered recession, gas prices, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Iraq, Kurdish, Oil, Petrol, Stock Market, Turkey, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street
Oil surges near $88 a barrel
Javier Blas
Financial Times
October 16, 2007
Oil prices rose to fresh records on Tuesday, with US crude surging near $88 a barrel, and pushing gold to a new 28-year high as investors feared a spike in inflation.
The threat of a Turkish military operation against Kurdish militia in northern Iraq contributed to the oil price increase, but traders said the main factor of the rally was low US inventories, strong demand and a timid production increase from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Francisco Blanch, chief commodities strategist at Merrill Lynch, added that an early winter cold snap or a serious geopolitical problem in the Middle East “could drive oil prices even to $100 a barrel.”
Doug Leggate, of Citigroup in New York, added: “A run to $90 is now seen as reasonable.”
Nymex November West Texas Intermediate rose to a high of $87.97 a barrel and later was trading $1.57 higher to $87.70 a barrel. ICE November Brent rose to an all-time high of $84.26 a barrel.
Low inventories prompted Opec recently to agree to boost output by 500,000 barrels a day from November. The cartel opted for a meagre increase on concerns about the strength of the global economy and oil consumption. However, Opec on Monday acknowledged that demand for its crude oil will be stronger than expected this winter.
“Downward [economic] pressure has receded in recent weeks, following the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut US interest rates by half a percent,” Opec said.
Paul Horsnell, of Barclays Capital in London, said that demand growth was strong relative to non-Opec weak supply increases.
Spot gold prices in London surged to a 28-year high of $766.60 an ounce as the oil price jump sparked worries about an inflation spike and investors continued to seek refuge against a weakening US dollar. Gold hit an all-time record of $850 an ounce in January 1980.
Precious metals traders reported strong buying from Japanese investors.
Spot platinum traded at $1,420 an ounce, just below Monday’s all-time record of $1,428 an ounce.
The World Gold Council on Monday cut its forecast for India’s gold consumption this year to 15-25 per cent, in the first sign that record high gold prices are beginning to dent jewellery demand, one of the main supports of gold’s recent price surge.
Earlier in the year, the WGC, which is backed by the gold industry, had predicted that gold consumption in India, the world’s biggest gold consumer, would rise almost 40 per cent this year.
Ajay Mitra, WGC managing director in India, said: “Due to the spike in prices, we are a little cagey.”
Base metals were also stronger, with the exception of copper with traded flat at $8,155 a tonne. Aluminum rose 0.1 per cent to $2,492 a tonne while lead rose 0.3 per cent to $3,823 a tonne.
Coffee continued to slide as rain fell over Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer. Euronext.Liffe November Robusta coffee prices in London fell 2.3 per cent to $2,028 a tonne, below a 10-year high of $2,234 a tonne reached last Friday.
Wheat prices in Chicago fell to $8.26 a bushel, the lowest level in four weeks.
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U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, european union, Federal Reserve, global economy, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, henry paulson, housing market, Inflation, liquidation, Northern Rock, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury department, Wall Street
Big Banks Trying to Avoid Global Economic Crash
Cryptongon
October 13, 2007
How these banks are going to juggle so much filthy, festering, hemorrhaging debt is a mystery to me. Maybe governments will eventually wind up eating it, like with Northern Rock in the UK. Maybe hyperinflation will make paying these debts down much easier. Maybe… Hmm. How much opium is Afghanistan producing???
This is an astonishing article. These firms are admitting that the thing is about to go off the rails. They need to cling together and absorb the fallout from this subprime thing, or it’s game over.
Via: Wall Street Journal:
In a far-reaching response to the global credit crisis, Citigroup Inc. and other big banks are discussing a plan to pool together and financially back as much as $100 billion in shaky mortgage securities and other investments.
The banks met three weeks ago in Washington at the Treasury Department, which convened the talks and is playing a central advisory role, people familiar with the situation said. The meeting was hosted by Treasury’s undersecretary for domestic finance, Robert Steel, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. official and the top domestic finance adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The Federal Reserve has been kept informed but has left the active role to the Treasury.
The new fund is designed to stave off what Citigroup and others see as a threat to the financial markets world-wide: the danger that dozens of huge bank-affiliated funds will be forced to unload billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities and other assets, driving down their prices in a fire sale. That could force big write-offs by banks, brokerages and hedge funds that own similar investments and would have to mark them down to the new, lower market prices.
The ultimate fear: If banks need to write down more assets or are forced to take assets onto their books, that could set off a broader credit crunch and hurt the economy. It could make it tough for homeowners and businesses to get loans. Efforts so far by central banks to alleviate the credit crunch that has been roiling markets since the summer haven’t fully calmed investors, leading to the extraordinary move to bring together the banks.
In recent weeks, investors have grown concerned about the size of bank-affiliated funds that have invested huge sums in securities tied to shaky U.S. subprime mortgages and other assets. Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank by market value, has drawn special scrutiny because it is the largest player in this market.
Citigroup has nearly $100 billion in seven affiliated structured investment vehicles, or SIVs. Globally, SIVs had $400 billion in assets as of Aug. 28, according to Moody’s.
Such vehicles are formally independent of the banks that create them. They issue their own short-term debt, usually at relatively low interest rates reflecting their high credit rating. The vehicles use the money to buy higher-yielding longer-term assets such as securities tied to mortgages or receivables from midsize businesses seeking to raise cash.
Many SIVs had trouble rolling over their short-term debt in August because of concerns about the quality of their assets. That contributed to the broader seizing up of credit markets.
The Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom’s markets regulator, has suggested that U.K. banks consider participating in the plan, a person familiar with the situation said. HSBC Holdings PLC, the largest U.K. bank, has an affiliate SIV called Cullinan Finance Ltd. with $35 billion in senior debt. An HSBC representative wasn’t immediately available to comment.
If the banks agree, the plan could be announced as early as Monday, people familiar with the matter said. Citigroup announces third-quarter earnings Monday. The tentative name for the fund is Master-Liquidity Enhancement Conduit, or M-LEC.
noworldsystem.com 
