by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The “Sanction Spiral” Elegantly Spirals Out of Control
The White House attacks Russian financial markets and oil, publicly and behind-the-scenes, Merkel suffers from “moral cowardice,” Russia develops the “Putin Doctrine” and threatens Estonia, and a crescendo of sanctions and counter-sanctions erupts. What gives?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Goldman Goes Bonkers Over Tesla
Wall Street once again stands out as history’s most glorious, most efficient, sophisticated, prolific “gigafactory,” to use Tesla’s newfangled term, for the production of self-serving BS. Investors beware!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on French Megabank: No “Drastic Crisis” in France, It Will Be “Slow And Over Time”
Finally we know why French government debt and French stocks have performed so well, despite the crummy economy, and why France has been spared so far the fate of Cyprus: the fiasco won’t happen suddenly in France, the bank reported. It will be slow and torturous.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Will The Last Bear Please Turn Out The Lights
When BlackRock CEO Larry Fink grumbled about “way too much optimism” in the markets, he wasn’t kidding. An entire mindset is benchmarking today’s record metrics against the splendor of 2000 and 2007: not to warn, but to prove that this time it won’t end in tears.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Kremlin: If The US Tries To Hurt Russia’s Economy, Russia Will Target The Dollar
The first official warning shot was fired before an all-out assault on the dollar system begins. Not by a Putin advisor that can be brushed off, but by Alexey Ulyukaev, Russia’s Minister of Economy and former Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank. A major escalation.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Bay Area Home Sales Plunge To 2008 Levels, Prices Soar
It starts here: evictions in San Francisco hit the highest level since 2001, when the dotcom bubble was disintegrating. Everything these days gets benchmarked against the last bubbles: the dotcom bubble that blew up in 2000, the housing bubble that blew up in 2007.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on German Exporters Fire Warning Shot About Russia “Sanction-Spiral,” Banks At Risk
It took a while. But it had to come, the public warning shot – after some ferocious lobbying behind closed doors. No one in Germany is allowed to get in the way of the sacrosanct exporters. The German economy, to the chagrin of neighboring countries, is based on them.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Coffee – The Craziest Chart Of The Year Already
I’m a coffee lover, and this is getting personal: our latte, espresso, or just plain good coffee is going to bite fiercely into our already mauled pocket book. In one crazy chart.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Caused The Glorious Jump In Household Wealth (In One Insanely Good Chart) And Who Will Blow It Up Again?
The stock market has soared for five years, risks have ballooned, home prices have jumped. Gains built on the quicksand of endless liquidity and a lackluster economy. “Irrational exuberance” is back in the Fed’s vocabulary. As the Fed’s Fisher said, it may end “in tears.”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on They Actually Don’t Have A Clue About Employment And Jobs, Not In California
California is at it again. It released its employment and jobs reports today, in parallel with the national reports released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What a doozie. Is the California boom already over?