The news that the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) system of setting interest rates is running into trouble was surprising at first glance.  It seems some banks are giving phony LIBOR quotations that don’t reflect the true rates at which they accept deposits. In the perfect financial system, beloved of regulators and academics, this kind […]

In the latest Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – Quarterly Derivatives Report [Q4/07], we learn that outstanding notionals for reporting banks declined by 8 Trillion. Furthermore, we are told that the overall decline was “driven by a 9.2 Trillion reduction in interest rate contracts – mostly swaps with maturities of less than one […]

This week we look at a remarkable and important essay by my friend Dr. Woody Brock who is one of my favorite “Outside the Box thinking” economists. I seriously look forward to Woody’s quarterly insights and devour them as soon as the come in.
I especially urge you to read and re-read the first few paragraphs, […]

Greenspan did another media tour last week, this time defending his legacy in the Financial Times , Wall Street Journal , and on CNBC Television .  Unfortunately the story from Greenspan was much the same: he reiterated that the financial markets are best left to self-regulate, and that investors around the world (not the Fed) […]

The ALADDIN’S lamp of Central Banking coming FULL Circle - If one is inclined toward general agreement with the notion that the pinnacle of power in the world is the power to create money, - then one must hastily conclude that; the government-aligned private organizations of central banking cartels, whom fund all of the worlds […]

 “The crisis from which we are now suffering is also the outcome of a credit expansion. The present crisis is the unavoidable sequel to a boom. Such a crisis necessarily follows every boom generated by the attempt to reduce the ‘natural rate of interest.’” - Analyst XDo you have a troubled friend or relative whose […]

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates.” ~ Ivana TrumpBefore we begin our next hair-raiser, I notice a lot of people scratching their heads as global stock markets decline in the face of a “strong global economy.” What you are seeing is the “pricing in” of approximately […]

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates.” ~ Ivana TrumpBefore we begin our next hair-raiser, I notice a lot of people scratching their heads as global stock markets decline in the face of a “strong global economy.” What you are seeing is the “pricing in” of approximately […]

By: David_Urban
A little more than a week ago a lone trader was able to rack up 4.9 billion euros in losses from trading in ‘plain vanilla’ DAX futures. At the time of the discovery by SocGen officials, the losses were less than 2 billion euros. When the futures were sold off, the market crashed setting […]

By: Mike_Whitney
“The current crisis is not only the bust that follows the housing boom, it’s basically the end of a 60-year period of continuing credit expansion based on the dollar as the reserve currency. Now the rest of the world is increasingly unwilling to accumulate dollars.” ‘ George Soros, World Economic Forum in Davos, […]

Two Billionaires Describe Our Outlook - Financial speculator and billionaire, George Soros states in his FT.com commentary : “the current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more than 60 years.” In June’s Higher Rates Reflect Default Risk we described the end of the last credit boom: “In 1928, the U.S. […]

By: John_Lee
We have written a series articles dating back to March 2007 tracking the US debt implosion, which are available here . The story started out in early 2007 with the blowout of Novastar and New Century, the multi-billion non-bank intermediary mortgage brokers. In summer of 2007 we witnessed the collapse of American Home Mortgage, […]

By: F_William_Engdahl
The Long-Term Greenspan Agenda
Seven years of Volcker monetary “shock therapy” had ignited a payments crisis across the Third World . Billions of dollars in recycled petrodollar debts loaned by major New York and London banks to finance oil imports after the oil price rises of the 1970’s, suddenly became non-payable.
The stage was now […]

In this issue:

What Are They Thinking?
The Reality of Trade Deficits
Fair Tax Nonsense
How to Create an Immigration Depression
Stimulate the Economy by Cutting Spending?
Tax Hikes to Help Us Grow?

In the past week, I have been in the car coming home late from work, with the presidential debates are on the radio. It […]

By: EWI
Have You Watched Market Myths Exposed?
You can see EWl’s Chief Market Analyst Steven Hochberg debunk some of the most widely held market myths and answers some of today’s toughest questions for traders and investors, including:

Why company earnings alone can’t drive share prices up or down.
Why Economics 101 does not apply to the financial markets.
What […]

By: Christopher_Laird
One of the main reasons gold is rising so much now is because central banks are facing stagflationary forces. Stagflation is a combination of economic stagnation with inflation. Central banks find it hard to lower interest rates because of inflation, and economic stagnation causes them to want to lower interest rates. This is very […]

The Mega Picture - Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF’s) are being hailed as the saviours of the financial world, but in reality are more akin to harbingers of the economic apocalypse for countries such as the United States and United Kingdom.The SWF’s have been stepping in of late with tens of billions in financing and investments […]

By: Gerard_Jackson
As the Australian and US booms rolls on some ‘forecaster’, particularly on the net, are once again drawing historical analogies, warning that we risk a financial collapse that could bring on a depression every bit as bad as the 1930s. These forecasters know as much about the Great Depression as I do about brain […]

The Mega Picture - Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF’s) are being hailed as the saviors of the financial world, but in reality are more akin to harbingers of the economic apocalypse for countries such as the United States and United Kingdom.The SWF’s have been stepping in of late with tens of billions in financing and investments […]

Welcome to this special issue of the Market Oracle Newsletter which brings a selection of the best of current financial market forecasts and analysis for 2008.
The Western economies enter the new year battered and bruised by the credit crisis, with fears growing of a recession in the US and the UK housing market having […]

Martin Weiss writes: The year 2007 is closing — and 2008 is about to open — with an epic battle between two of the most powerful economic crosscurrents we’ve seen in a lifetime:

An unprecedented credit crunch threatening to strangle the debt-addicted U.S. economy, and …
Equally unprecedented money pumping by a Federal Reserve determined to flood […]

The analysis and forecasts for the commodity and financial markets for 2008 are coming through thick and fast as the New Year approaches. It is time to delve through the several thousand articles published during 2007 for the opportunity to return to the ten most popular articles of the year. The Housing market dominated peoples […]

Mike Larson writes: The last 12 months have seen monumental shifts in the interest rate and real estate markets. And if I’m right about where things are headed, 2008 should be just as exciting, if not more.
Naturally, I can’t give away the entire store here. More precise forecasts and profitable recommendations are reserved for loyal […]

By: Christopher_Laird
The ECB just lent out an astounding half $Trillion worth of money to 390 banks in only one day this week. It was to combat the lending freeze in Europe where banks are refusing to lend to each other over concerns about the mortgage losses this year. The demand was so high it caused […]

In this issue:

Pop Go the Bubbles
Lights for Myanmar, Water for Darfur
A Half A Trillion Here and There
Consumer Spending is Up? Wait, Is It Down?
The Presidential Race
Family, Christmas, and Home

Consumer spending was much stronger than thought in November, yet Circuit City Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and other retailers that warned […]

The worst is yet to come for the global banking system, which faces potential losses of more than half-trillion dollars from investments in toxic sub-prime US mortgage debt. “The problems in the financial sector remain with us,” said Bank of England chief Mervyn King on Nov 19 th . “A painful adjustment faces the global […]

“In past financial crises… the Fed has been able to wave its magic wand and make market turmoil disappear. But this time the magic isn’t working. Why not? Because the problem with the markets isn’t just a lack of liquidity — there’s also a fundamental problem of solvency.” Paul Krugman Stocks fell sharply last week […]