July 6 2009 Bryan Marsal, Lehman Brothers Holdings CEO (liquidator): A freefall Chapter 11 bankruptcy could have been avoided by Fed. CNBC video "Unwinding Lehman"

July 1 2009 China’s Manufacturing Expands a Fourth Month as Economy Revives

July 1 2009 Corporate Bonds the best performing asset in H1

June 30 2009 Robert Shiller Sees ‘Improvement’ in Rate of Home-Price Drop: "My guess would be that home prices are going to level off -- they’re not going to keep falling”
video

June 30 2009 Consumer Confidence in U.S. Dropped to 49.3 in June From 54.8

June 30 2009 Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index Increased to 39.9 in June

June 30 2009 Home-Price Declines in 20 U.S. Cities Eased in April

June 29 2009 European June Economic Confidence Increases More Than Forecast

June 26 2009 U.S. Consumer Spending Rose, Incomes Gained in May

June 24 2009 Warren Buffett: Economy will eventually recover but "you can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant" - it will take time. Credits Ben Bernanke, Fed's Chairman for taking decisive action at the critical time and rescuing financial system

June 24 2009 Fed: No Change to Monetary Policy; maintains securities and troubled assets purchase program

June 24 2009 Orders for Durable Goods in U.S. Unexpectedly Jumped in May (+1.8% Vs forecast -0.9%)

June 24 2009 OECD Raises Economy Outlook for First Time in Two Years on U.S. - conflicts with negative forecast of the World Bank

June 23 2009 Home resales in the U.S. rose 2.4% in May - for a second month. Tax breaks for first-time buyers in the Obama administration’s stimulus plan, falling property values and lower mortgage rates have helped support the market

June 23 2009 Bernanke Set to Defend Record as Reappointment Debate Begins... other candidates include democrats Lawrence Summers and Janet Yellen. Issues against Bernanke: letting Lehman Brothers collapse, handling of Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch

June 19 2009 EU Sees ‘Sustainable’ Recovery Signs, Rules Out More Stimulus

June 18 2009 Philadelphia Area Factory Index Rose as measures of orders and sales improved

June 18 2009 U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Index Increased 1.2% in May for the second straight month, reinforcing signs that the worst recession in five decades may end this year

June 18 2009 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Total Benefit Rolls Plunge for the first time since January, adding to evidence the job market is starting to thaw

June 18 2009 Wind Plans Europe’s Biggest Junk Bond Issue Since 2006... more risky bonds are back

June 18 2009 London financial firms are hiring again

June 17 2009 Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings and revised its outlooks on 22 rated U.S. banks on increased regulatory oversight and lower profitability during the structural transformation... lower credit rating will increase named banks borrowing costs and lower their profits - a self fulfilling prophecy

June 17 2009 Obama's Plan for Financial Regulatory Reform... more power to Fed
NYT graphic

June 17 2009 Consumer Prices in U.S. Increased Less Than Forecast in May, culminating in the biggest 12-month drop in prices in almost 60 years... so much for the fear of inflation

June 17 2009 U.S. MBA Mortgage Applications Index Fell 16 Percent Last Week

June 16 2009 U.S. Producer Prices Rose Less Than Forecast in May

June 16 2009 Housing Starts in the U.S. Soared in May; Permits Also Rose

June 16 2009 German Investor Confidence Rises to Three-Year High

June 15 2009 Efficient Market Hypothesis is dead: says two-thirds of professional financial analysts

June 13 2009 Dow Industrial Average Erases 2009 Decline on Economic Recovery

June 12 2009 Europe Industrial Production Declines by Record 21.6%

June 11 2009 U.S. Retail Sales Gain for First Time in Three Months

June 10 2009 Funds are moving from safety of AAA Treasury and Corporate Bonds to more risky Baa Corporate paper as indicated by recently falling rates for Baa Corporate Bonds while AAA rates are rising - Graph

June 10 2009 U.S. Senators Want Homebuyer Tax Credit to Rise to $15,000

June 09 2009 U.S. Lets 10 Banks Repay $68 Billion of TARP Funds

June 05 2009 U.S. Job Losses Slow

June 04 2009 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decreased

June 03 2009 Bernanke Warns Deficits Threaten Financial Stability... 10-year notes yield dropped

June 03 2009 U.S. ISM Service Industries Index Increased to 44 in May

June 03 2009 Don Stammer: Why we have ups and downs in the markets - the business cycles live on

May 31 2009 US Long Interest Rates Seem To Have Risen Too High Too Soon - history of US Yield Curve Vs Inflation Expectations indicates

May 29 2009 Chicago Purchasers’ May Index Falls to 34.9 From 40.1

May 29 2009 U.S. Economy Contracted at -5.7% Rate in Q1 Vs -6.3% in the previous Quarter... while US NIPA Corporate Profits rose by +3.4% in Q1 on +6% growth in Financial Sector's Corporate Profits

May 29 2009 Japan’s Industrial Production Surges Most in 56 Years - a rebound in exports helps the economy emerge from its worst recession since World War II

May 28 2009 New-Home Sales in U.S. Climbed 0.3% to 352,000 Pace in April

May 28 2009 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decreased - a sign the biggest rounds of firings may be over

May 28 2009 U.S. Durable-Goods Orders Rose More Than Forecast on Autos, Defense

May 28 2009 Europe Confidence at 6-Month High on Signs Worst Over

May 27 2009 US Existing-Home Sales Rise in April

May 26 2009 Chicago Fed National Activities Index Improved in April

May 26 2009 Consumer Confidence in U.S. Jumps More Than Forecast to 54.9

May 26 2009 U.S. Financial Rules Need Overhaul, Fewer Agencies - proposal to give the Federal Reserve added power and creating a single U.S. Financial Services Authority with the powers now held by bank, securities and commodities regulators

May 22 2009 David Swensen - Yale Endowment Fund CIO interviewed by Consenelo Mack at WealthTrack... diversification does not work during crisis, "bottom-up" is preferred method to analyse investments but in uncertain times "top-down" is important when investors think in "risk and safety" categories
Part I Video Transcript
Part II Video

May 21 2009 U.S. Economy: Leading Index Gains as Recession Eases
Global Business Cycle Indicator LEI Press Release

May 20 2009 Geithner: Banks raised $56b of the $75b prescribed by the Stress Test; Treasury to start buying toxic assets in July 09 for $1 Trillion in public-private partnerships

May 20 2009 Japan Economy Shrinks Record 15.2% as Exports, Spending Plunge

May 20 2009 Jim Cooper: The Fed is in no rush to raise rates - there is too much idle labour and production capacity - video

May 20 2009 Don Stammer: Market shows early signs that worst may be over

May 19 2009 Robert Shiller: US and UK house prices could fall further. Fed may raise rates too soon and make the recession worse - video

May 19 2009 Derivatives Market Declines for First Time on Record, BIS Says

May 18 2009 FASB Rule Will Force Banks to Move Assets Onto Books

May 18 2009 Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley applied to repay the combined $45 billion they received in October from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).... financial stocks rally

May 18 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner ruled out setting specific limits for compensation

May 18 2009 U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Rises to Eight-Month High

May 15 2009 Goldman Sachs: Why this is more than a bear market rally

May 15 2009 Europe’s Economy Contracts 2.5%, the Most Since 1995 - The deepest global recession since World War II

May 14 2009 U.S. Regulators Seek Trace-like Reporting for OTC Derivatives

May 13 2009 European March Industrial Production Declines by Record 20.2%

May 12 2009 Frontline video: The Madoff Affair - unravelling the story behind the world's first global Ponzi scheme

May 12 2009 Home Prices in U.S. Drop Most on Record in Quarter

May 8 2009 U.S. Job Losses Shrank in April as Economy Started to Stabilize

May 8 2009 Banks Stress Test Results: Fed Finds 10 U.S. Banks Need Total Capital of $74.6 Billion - “The results released today should provide considerable comfort to investors and the public,” Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said... some of the bank stocks in the need to raise the largest capital gained the most in after hours trading (e.g. BAC, GMAC, C)
Stress Test Results - WSJ Graphical Comparative Analysis; Interactive

May 7 2009 AIG First-Quarter Net Loss Narrows

May 7 2009 Swine Flu Ancestors Gave Immunity to Elderly, Researchers Say

May 7 2009 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell to Lowest Level in 3 Months

May 7 2009 ECB Cuts Key Rate to Record Low of 1%, May Lengthen Bank Loans

May 7 2009 Consumer Credit Drops by Record Amid Job, Bank Losses

May 7 2009 Credit Risk Lowest Since Lehman Crisis on Bank Tests

May 7 2009 Fed’s Bank Stress Test Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency - stocks rally strongly around the world

May 6 2009 The strongest Sectors in recent U.S. rebound from its lows were: Banks (+98%), Basic Resources (+64%), Financial Services (+56%), Real Estate (+48%). The weakest, but still positive, were Health Care (+7%) and Telcos (+8%)... jury is out if this is a bear rally or a beginning of a new bull led by Financials

May 6 2009 U.S. Stocks Rise to Four-Month High as Banks Jump on Stress Tests... the increased certainty that there should be no more big surprises is the critical factor; no matter how big are the announced capital requirements

May 6 2009 Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 491,000 workers from payrolls in April, indicating the worst of the recession’s job losses may have passed

April 2009 Barclays: US Housing Affordability highest in 40 years - see page 10

April 30 2009 69% of the S&P500 companies topped analysts’ profit estimates in Q1

April 29 2009 U.S. Economy: GDP Shrinks in Worst Slump in 50 Years; GDP dropped at a 6.1 percent annual pace, weaker than forecast, after contracting at a 6.3 percent rate in the last three months of 2008 ... stocks rise sharply despite the GDP fall and swine-flu pandemic threat level raised to 5 on the scale of 6

April 27 2009 Sy Harding: The history of first-term presidencies suggest that the current bear market will end either this year or next

April 27 2009 Swine-Flu Pandemic Threat Level Raised by WHO

April 27 2009 G-7 Finance Chiefs expect a “weak” recovery in coming months, while noting that it might take longer

April 25 2009 Don Stammer: The Recession - where to now? ... watching US house prices, share market, interest rate spreads and inventories for signs of deep V-shaped recovery.
audio

April 24 2009 US Banks Stress Test Parameters ... positive GDP is assumed in 2010 in the worst case scenario

April 23 2009 Soros: Lehman Bankruptcy Led to Financial Crisis

April 22 2009 IMF Revises Down Global Growth Estimates to -1.3% in 2009

April 17 2009 U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Rose to 61.9 in April

April 17 2009 Citigroup’s $1.6 Billion Profit Exceeds Estimates... other major banks including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo also substantially exceeded analysts estimates this week

April 17 2009 Yellen, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President, Signals Fed’s Decision to Let Lehman Fail Was a Mistake

April 16 2009 U.S. Housing Starts Fall; Permits Drop to Record Low

April 14 2009 Bernanke Sees Signs U.S. Economy Decline ‘May Be Slowing’
speech transcript

April 2 2009 G-20 Backs Regulation Crackdown, $1.1 Trillion Aid
G20 site

April 2 2009 FASB Eases Fair-Value "Mark to Market" Rules... applies to Q1

March 30 2009 CNN estimates cost of the US economic rescue above $10 trillion ;
Bloomberg estimate is close to $13 trillion - approaching US GDP of $14.2 trillion
Government confirms the amount is $13.9 trillion - see page 4 of the Supervisory Insigths FDIA Summer 2009
Cost of the 2008/09 financial bailout compared to major events in 206 years of US history
Cost of the bailout compared to cost of major wars

March 26 2009 U.S. Economy Contracts 6.3%, Profits Plunge Most Since 1953... Financial Sector's Profits fell -59% and Non-Financial only -10.7%; stock market expected even weaker numbers and rose on the news

March 25 2009 U.S. Durable Goods Orders Unexpectedly Jumped 3.4%... market expected 2.5% drop chart

March 23 2009 Treasury Department Releases Details on Public Private Partnership Investment Program

March 23 2009 U.S. Treasury Announces $1 Trillion Plan to Buy Distressed Debt - global stock markets rise sharply

March 22 2009 FT Top 20 Financial Institutions 1999-2009 trends - emergence of Chinese banks

March 20 2009 Financial institutions strongly oppose court-ordered mortgage workouts (cramdown), which could entail easing homeowners' payment terms by lowering interest rates or the principal owed... no intention of sharing the debt burden with the Consumer - the financial crisis may last longer

March 18 2009 U.S. Considers Expanding Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to Distressed Assets... a Trillion Dollar attempt to restart the Securitized Market which represents approx. 50% of the assets backed loans

March 18 2009 Fed to Buy $300 Billion of Treasuries and to purchase up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities... yields and US Dollar fall, stocks up

March 17 2009 U.S. Housing Starts Unexpectedly Increase on Surge in Condos

March 14 2009 NYT: Has the Economy hit bottom yet? PE ratio approaching historical lows

March 10 2009 Timothy Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary interview with Charlie Rose: will outline in two weeks a plan how to fix the banks and start credit flow again. New bank financing will be made available on terms protecting Taxpayers, market mechanism to be used to establish value of toxic assets... Absolute commitment to do whatever it takes to save the financial system and economy.

March 5 2009 US Housing Market is still in trouble due to rising unemployment: home prices down -12% in Q4 2008 on year earlier, 8.3m US mortgage holders have negative equity, mortgage delinquencies at 7.88% highest on record

March 2 2009 US: February ISM Factory Index in a deep recession at 35.8; stable Vs January

March 1 2009 Warren Buffett in Berkshire's 2008 Annual Letter: reasonably optimistic despite the paralyzing credit crisis when "The watchword throughout the country became the creed I saw on restaurant walls when I was young: “In God we trust; all others pay cash”

Feb 27 2009 U.S. GDP Shrinks in Q4 2008 at -6.2% annual pace; expands +1.1% for all of 2008

Feb 25 2009 U.S. Sets a 6-Month Deadline for New Bank Capital... Banks "Stress Test" to be completed by end of March under two economic scenarios: both assume shrinking economy in 2009 but positive GDP growth in 2010

Feb 24 2009 U.S. Economy: Consumer Confidence lowest since data began in 1967, Home Prices dropped further -18.5% in the last 12 months... stocks advanced on Bernanke's statement that banks need not be privatized

Feb 23 2009 Asia Agrees on $120 Billion Currency Pool as Crisis Worsens... many past attempts to control exchange rates failed over time

Feb 19 2009 U.S., Europe May Jointly Regulate $28 trillion Credit Derivatives... it is about time, given the amount of money involved in credit derivatives equals the total world stock markets capitalization. The systemic risks are significant considering high leverage associated with the derivatives and volatility of underlying assets.

Fed 18 2009 Fed Starts Releasing Projections for inflation - indirectly signals 2% target on par with EU... While Bernanke favored an explicit target for inflation in the past and co-authored a book on the subject, he has noted the political difficulty of instituting one for the Fed. Bernanke pledged to Congress in his 2005 nomination hearing that he would take no “precipitate steps” toward such a move. Instead, he highlighted officials’ third year of predictions as a signal for their policy objectives. See also earlier news on Jan 7 2009.

Fed 18 2009 Obama Pledges $275 Billion to Stem Foreclosures, Help Borrowers. Supports revamping U.S. bankruptcy rules to let judges reduce mortgages on primary residences to fair- market value... clear focus on demand side

Feb 18 2009 U.S. Office Vacancy Rate to Climb to 16.7%

Feb 17 2009 Obama signed into law one of the biggest economic rescue efforts in U.S. history, a $787 billion stimulus bill... that's big; almost 6% of GDP
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Tracking: www.recovery.gov

Feb 17 2009 Frontline's TV program "Inside the Meltdown". Analysis of the 2008 Financial Crisis. The Sept 15, 2008 decision by Government/Fed to allow bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered the global credit crisis and October 2008 stock market crash... Had they rescued them like Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG the situation would be probably much different today.
video

Feb 16 2009 Japan’s Economy Shrinks at annual -12.7% pace in the Q4 2008; Most Since 1974 Oil Shock. The quarter was defined by the fallout from the Sept. 15 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which set off a credit crisis that erased more than $14 trillion from global equity markets and paralyzed world trade.

Feb 13 2009 Europe’s Economy Contracts -1.5%, Most in at Least 13 Years... more rates cuts are expected

Feb 12 2009 Home Prices in U.S. Slid 12% in Fourth Quarter, Most on Record

Feb 10 2009 U.S. Senate Approves $838 Billion Stimulus Package

Feb 10 2009 Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Says Bank-Rescue Plans May Reach $2 Trillion - Government confirmed a total commitment to do whatever it takes to restart the economy and creates jobs. Plans to form a Public-Private Investment Fund, with an initial capacity of $500 billion that could grow to $1 trillion, to provide financing for private investors to buy distressed securities while imposing tighter restrictions that will include limits on dividend payments, acquisitions and executive pay.
Geithner's Speech - Video NY Times
Geithner's post Speech Interview - Video

Feb 9 2009 U.S. Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts - enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages

Feb 3 2009 Don Stammer expects deep V-shape economic recovery... key points: fiscal and monetary policies do work but with lags, governments and central banks are committed to do whatever it takes to restore the global economy, the slump will not last forever.

Feb 3 2009 Australia Doubles Rescue Plans in A$42 Billion Fiscal Stimulus... Australian Federal Government is in a good position to take on new debt having paid off old loans from budget surpluses in previous years that resulted from asset sales and commodities boom. The country has fundamental structural problems and suffers from a permanent foreign trade deficit that persisted even during the last commodities boom and highest ever prices for the Australian resources exports. With the commodities boom over and 35% drop in its currency against USD the local economy is at serious risk and this stimulus package should ease the tensions.

Jan 30 2009 Japan Heads for Worst Postwar Slump as factory output slumped an unprecedented 9.6 percent in December... Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008 and tight credit, despite massive injections of capital to the banking system, was followed by a collapse of the stock markets and world economy. The question is where is the bottom in the current cycle.

Jan 30 2009 U.S. GDP Shrank 3.8% Last Quarter, Most Since 1982

Jan 29 2009 Europe Confidence Drops to Record Low, Adding to Rate-Cut Case

Jan 28 2009 U.S. House Passes Obama’s $819 Billion Stimulus Plan; Republicans may object it in Senate

Jan 28 2009 Analysis of financial crises by Reinhart & Rogoff. Average falls were: house prices -35% over 6 years, equities -55% over 3.5 years, output -9% over 2 years, while unemployment rose +7% over 4 years and government debt rose on average by +86%.

Jan 27 2009 Consumer confidence in the U.S. sank to the lowest level on record in January as jobs evaporated and home values sank

Jan 23 2009 U.K. Economy Shrinks Most Since 1980, in Recession

Jan 15 2009 The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to 2 percent, matching a record low

Jan 14 2009 Germany unveiled a 50 billion-euro stimulus package - That may widen the public deficit to more than 4 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 from around 3 percent of GDP in 2009 and 0.1 percent this year, breaching European Union limits

Jan 13 2009 The Crisis and the Policy Response - Remarks by Ben S. Bernanke at LSE
video

Jan 13 2009 OECD: The Current Financial Crisis: Causes and Policy Issues by Adrian Blundell-Wignall, Paul Atkinson and Se Hoon Lee ... analysis of regulations and incentives

Jan 10 2009 Paulson Outlines Future of Fannie and Freddie... it is interesting that Paulson offers solutions a couple of weeks before leaving the office - perhaps he wants some credit for what the new Obama administration will soon do. In any case, a solid repair plan for the mortgage industry is essential for the U.S. economy recovery.

Jan 9 2009 U.S. Payrolls Post Biggest Annual Drop Since 1945... while very painful, unemployment is a lagging indicator of the business cycle

Jan 8 2009 BOE Cuts Rate to 1.5% - Lowest Since Bank’s Creation in 1694

Jan 7 2009 Fed Revives Discussion of Explicit Inflation Target... Bernanke always wanted Fed to adopt the Inflation Targeting Policy. Earlier, when risk of inflation was high, it would mean higher interest rates hence the policy was objected as potentially slowing economic growth and reducing employment. Now, with inflation retreating and the economy contracting, he is trying to justify a need for the inflation targeting policy to avoid deflation. In my opinion, to have the inflation target means significantly more aggressive monetary policy in both directions, more volatile asset prices and resulting sharper business cycle turning points (see Ben Bernanke's earlier research papers on the subject of Inflation Targeting)

Dec 16 2008 Fed cuts rates to 0%-0.25% range; a historic low... long rates are likely next target

Dec 11 2008 Bernard Madoff Charged in $50 Billion Fraud at Advisory Firm... such unpredictable events may trigger another domino effect falls and distort confidence
Frontline video 5/12/09: The Madoff Affair - unravelling the story behind the world's first global Ponzi scheme
Harry Markopolos "The man who knew" 60 minutes TV program on June 14 2009
Bernard Madoff Gets 150 Years in Jail for Epic Fraud - 2009 June 29

Dec 9 2008 NACM Credit Manager's Index for November 2008 dropped to 42.2 indicating economic contraction

Dec 8 2008 Treasury Sells Three-Month Bills at 0.005 percent - the Lowest Rate Since 1929... fell from 16.75 percent in May 1981; investors are looking for safety

Dec 6 2008 U.S. Job Losses Signal Recession Will Be Long, Deep - unemployment at 6.7% highest since 1993

Dec 4 2008 Bernanke Says U.S. Must Step Up Foreclosure Efforts. Upto 20% of mortgages are under water (negative equity). Delinquency rate is high: 4.5% of first quality mortgages, 10% of near prime and 20% of subprime mortgages are behind in repayments (overdue more than 90 days) or in foreclosure
video

Dec 4 2008 ECB Delivers Biggest Rate Cut Ever as Economy Slumps - from 3.25% to 2.5%

Dec 3 2008 U.S. MBA’s Mortgage Applications More Than Doubled Last Week... following drop in mortgage rates on Fed's action

Dec 3 2008 Take the long view and ride the economic cycles: Don Stammer ... an insightful view from X-Factor Club

Dec 1 2008 Recession in U.S. Started in December 2007 - says NBER officially one year later

Dec 1 2008 U.S. Economy: Manufacturing Shrinks Most in 26 Years... more than expected - market tumbles

Nov 28 2008 Europe Inflation Rate Drops Most in Almost 2 Decades ... more interest cuts possible

Nov 26 2008 EU Proposes 200 Billion-Euro Stimulus Against Crisis

Nov 25 2008 U.S. Mortgage Rates Fall on $600 Billion Fed Plan ... 30y fixed mortgage dropped from 6.38% to 5.5% today; positive for consumer if sustained

Nov 25 2008 Fed Commits $800 Billion More to Unfreeze Lending

Nov 25 2008 September Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Drop 17.4% From 2007

Nov 25 2008 U.S. Economy Shrank 0.5% in 3rd Qtr, Most Since ’01 on consumer spending

Nov 23 2008 U.S. Approves Plan to Help Citigroup Weather Losses - government to back $306 billion in loans and securities and directly invest $20b ... another "too big to let it fail" situation

Nov 21 2008 The worst annual decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has dragged down every industry in the benchmark gauge and 97 percent of its stocks ... stock picking and diversification are helpless in such environment; only those who picked the market correctly and were in cash have done well.

Nov 20 2008 Business Cycle Investor: 2008 Credit Crisis should not lead to 1930s style Great Depression: Fed’s perspective

Nov 18 2008 Berkshire's Credit Risk Soars on $37 Billion Bet ... Warren Buffett is risking $37b for a $4.85b premium that four major stock markets including S&P500 will not be lower in 10 years time. Historically, holding major US index for 8 years never lost money (click chart) and Berkshire will invest the premiums so this looks like a low risk decision unless there will be another stock market "tsunami" at the wrong time

Nov 17 2008 Japan is now in recession

Nov 16 2008 G-20 Calls for Action on Growth, Overhaul of Financial Rules. The group set a March 09 deadline for recommendations on strengthening accounting standards, derivatives markets and oversight of hedge funds and debt-rating companies ... they are going to wait for new US President Obama

Nov 14 2008 Europe Economy Falls Into First Recession in 15 Years

Nov 13 2008 George Soros: statement to the US House of Representatives ... hedge funds industry insider's analysis of the financial crisis and possible reforms

Nov 13 2008 US House or Representatives - Hedge Funds Hearing ... insightful views from key industry players

Nov 11 2008 International Accounting Standard Board Expert Advisory Panel ... discussion of "fair value" accounting

Nov 9 2008 G-20 Ready to Urgently Boost Growth, Stimulus Needed ... commitment to a coordinated monetary and fiscal support at the upcoming Nov 15 summit in Washington

Nov 6 2008 BOJ Helpless as Yen Rises on Carry Trade ... rapid unwinding of foreign currency bets with borrowed Yen

Nov 6 2008 Bank of England Cuts Key Rate by 1.5 Percentage Points to 3% ... more than expected

Nov 4 2008 Dollar Libor Drops as Central-Bank Cash, Rate Cuts Thaw Lending ... interbank lending is working again

Nov 4 2008 October 2008 PMI down to 38.9% ... a serious slowdown for third consecutive month: high inventories, very weak Backlog of Orders

Oct 31 2008 Cost of shipping (Baltic Dry index) down 90% since July 08 ... another bubble has burst making trade cheaper in a slowing global economy