Monthly Archives: January 2014

Lies, Damned Lies, and Banks: Deutsche Bank’s Whitewash Of “Senior Management”

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Lies, Damned Lies, and Banks: Deutsche Bank’s Whitewash Of “Senior Management”

Germany has its own JP Morgan, mired in a swamp of sordid scandals, investigations, lawsuits, and fines. Now a letter by the banking regulator was leaked that blasts Deutsche Bank’s internal investigation of the rate rigging scandal as a senior management whitewash.

Financial Tiki-Taka: Ugly Side of the ‘Beautiful Game’ in Spain

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Financial Tiki-Taka: Ugly Side of the ‘Beautiful Game’ in Spain

By Don Quijones: On the surface and on the pitch, Spanish football has never been better. The national team of once-perpetual underachievers has won two European Championships and one World Cup in the last six years, a feat unmatched by any other European nation.

But Wait … The PC Industry Hopes That It Hasn’t Lost Hope Yet

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on But Wait … The PC Industry Hopes That It Hasn’t Lost Hope Yet

Signs of the entire industry in a heap of trouble are everywhere. Rumors just bubbled up that Dell would axe 25% of its global sales staff – over 9,000 souls. HP is sacking 34,000. PC shipments, including laptops, have been awful for three years in a row.

Lousy Jobs Data: Five Years Of QE Fail, Yet Fig Leaf For Taper

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Lousy Jobs Data: Five Years Of QE Fail, Yet Fig Leaf For Taper

Today’s employment report is special. Exactly five years ago, the Fed kicked off its zero interest rate policy and QE to create the “wealth effect”: the elite would borrow for free and buy assets to drive up asset prices and make those people immensely rich; in return, they’d spend some crumbs of this new wealth, which would create jobs, say, at luxury retailers.

China CLOBBERS The US In Auto Sales, Becomes GM’s Nirvana (Unless You Have To Breathe)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on China CLOBBERS The US In Auto Sales, Becomes GM’s Nirvana (Unless You Have To Breathe)

The air in China can get so bad that the whole world talks about it. Though the government is taking the issue seriously and is doing a million things to get the fiasco under control, it remains unclear what exactly people will breathe ten years from now.

Plagued By Indigestion, Fed Issues Asset-Bubble Warning

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Plagued By Indigestion, Fed Issues Asset-Bubble Warning

Hidden in the middle of the 25-page minutes of the last meeting, under the most wooden and convoluted prose, the Fed issued a doozie of a warning: it fretted about financial stability. It named soaring forward P/E ratios, stock buybacks, margin credit, and leveraged loans.

Brazil’s Energy Sector Struggles With Its “Oil Revolution”

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on Brazil’s Energy Sector Struggles With Its “Oil Revolution”

Brazil has been touted as Latin America’s oil powerhouse, projected to account for one-third of global supply growth by 2035. But poor policies and bad luck are throwing cold water on these projections.

The Piranha of Portugal: Greatest Counterfeiter Ever (Or: Any Difference Between Keynesianism And Counterfeiting?)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Piranha of Portugal: Greatest Counterfeiter Ever (Or: Any Difference Between Keynesianism And Counterfeiting?)

Bryan Taylor, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Global Financial Data: The new US $100 bill is out, as you may have seen this holiday season. Our dear old Uncle Ben is a technological wonder with a dozen different anti-counterfeiting devices on it. Since there are more $100 bills circulating outside of the United States than inside, the…

Corporate Earnings Goofiness Goes Hog Wild

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Corporate Earnings Goofiness Goes Hog Wild

Corporate earnings season has been a doozy before it even got started. The well-scripted song and dance, designed to pull a bag over investors’ heads, works marvelously: stalled revenues and earnings propel stocks higher. But the shenanigans are bumping into limits.