by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Housing in Six Cities in the West
That’s how it always starts: with a deadly mix. Home sales are collapsing while inventories are soaring in six housing markets that had been white-hot just a few months ago.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This chart is a hair-raising picture of Canadian home prices that makes the torrid excesses of the US housing bubble look banal
The gap between Canadian and US home prices is at an all-time record, with prices in Canada now 66% higher than in the US. And risks are piling up.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Putin Parties With German Ex-Chancellor, Sanctions Be Damned
Putin is a master at this game. Even as the sanction spiral is supposed to strangle his ambitions for the Ukraine, he set up a photo op of incomparable ingenuity. And his confidant, ex-Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder stepped in it with gusto.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Who Is Getting Crushed in This Bull Market?
By now, this wondrous bull market constantly gets benchmarked against the dotcom bubble. It’s different this time, we’re told, even on NPR. But the wholesale destruction of financial assets has already started, one pocket at a time.
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Liars, Damned Liars, and Spanish Banks
By Don Quijones: “Spain’s banks are back on track,” the Spanish Banking Association announced to great fanfare. That’s the official story. But these banks reported financial results that “bear no relation to reality.”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japanese Doomsday Machine Socks It To The Middle Class (But Shorting JGBs Remains A Terrible Idea)
The miracles performed by Abenomics – an economic religion touted with blinding exuberance around the world – and the endless wonders performed by the Bank of Japandemonium, are now coming home to roost.
by David Stockman • • Comments Off on Wall Street’s “Escape Velocity” Hoax
Q1 GDP growth is trending at a tepid 1.5%. But don’t worry. It’s the weather! Wall Street is predicting “escape velocity” for the fifth spring-summer in a row. Why? Because it’s already priced into the stock market!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This Chart Is A True Picture of The Bank Credit Bubble In America, Now Bigger Than The Last One (Which Blew Up)
For a while, rumor had it that banks weren’t lending, and that this was the reason the recovery has been so crummy. There was no demand for loans, and banks were too tight with their lending standards. Or so the story went.