Refinancing mortgages is phenomenally profitable for banks – one of the few growth sectors actually spawned by the Fed’s herculean efforts to force down long-term interest rates through waves of quantitative easing. Banks went on a hiring binge to shuffle all this paper around and extract fees. But now, with rising rates, that business is getting decimated.
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LEAKED: German Government Warns Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 – Links The NSA
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on LEAKED: German Government Warns Key Entities Not To Use Windows 8 – Links The NSA
Experts at the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) determined that Windows 8, the touch-screen enabled, super-duper, but sales-challenged operating system is dangerous for data security. It allows Microsoft to control the computer remotely through a backdoor – with keys likely accessible to the NSA.
When “QE Infinity” Turns Into A Pipedream: Hot Money Evaporates, Rout Follows – See Emerging Markets
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on When “QE Infinity” Turns Into A Pipedream: Hot Money Evaporates, Rout Follows – See Emerging Markets
Printing money and forcing interest rates to near zero, that’s how the Fed and other central banks papered over the Financial Crisis, duct-taped the bursting credit bubble back together, inflated new asset bubbles, and propped up TBTF banks. It accomplished a huge feat: a worldwide tsunami of hot money. Which is now receding.
Abenomics Utter Fail: Japan’s Crazy Exploding Trade Deficit
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Abenomics Utter Fail: Japan’s Crazy Exploding Trade Deficit
The new salvation religion being preached in Japan to a hardened and cynical bunch who’ve lived through one of the worst bubbles and busts in recent history is this: prodigious money-printing will devalue the yen, causing exports to skyrocket and imports to shrink. The resulting trade surplus will save Japan. But the opposite is happening. And fast!
US Tech Companies Raked Over The Coals In China
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on US Tech Companies Raked Over The Coals In China
China is the promised land for our revenue-challenged tech heroes: 1.2 billion consumers, economic growth several times that of the US, and companies splurging on IT. Layer the “cloud” on top, and China is corporate nirvana: a high-growth sector in a high-growth country. Or was nirvana, now that the NSA’s hyperactive spying practices have spilled out.
David Stockman: The Texas Gas Bubble Massacre
by David Stockman • • Comments Off on David Stockman: The Texas Gas Bubble Massacre
The $47 billion buyout of TXU was a bet on a truly aberrational price gap between coal and natural gas that couldn’t possibly last, writes David Stockman. “So the largest LBO in history was the ultimate folly of bubble finance.” It generated $1 billion in fees and an “epic $32 billion payday” for shareholders, “including the hedge funds that had front-run the deal.”
Spain’s “Government of Scoundrels” Stokes Diplomatic Row
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Spain’s “Government of Scoundrels” Stokes Diplomatic Row
By Don Quijones: Since taking office, Rajoy’s government has done everything within its means to alienate the Spanish public. Its key election pledges – taxes wouldn’t be hiked, banks would never be bailed out, vital services would not be cut, unemployment would be a priority, the economy would improve… – all turned out to be lies; and its corruption scandals are mushrooming. But now it has a new strategy: a territorial tussle with the UK.
Retail Woes: They Shopped Till They Dropped
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Retail Woes: They Shopped Till They Dropped
Men’s retailer Jos. A. Bank warned that sales in the quarter plunged 11%. OK, it suffered from management foul-ups, goofy marketing, obnoxious ads, and – at least at the store I looked at – dusty shirts on the shelf. But it isn’t an outlier. It’s the latest entry on a laundry list of revenue-challenged retailers whose woes are spreading relentlessly across the US.
Cisco CEO Reports Record Sales And “Lumpy” Demand, Just Like In November 2007, A Month Before Stocks Began To Crash
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cisco CEO Reports Record Sales And “Lumpy” Demand, Just Like In November 2007, A Month Before Stocks Began To Crash
Cisco CEO Chambers gushed with positive vibes during the earnings call: “unbelievably strong results,” he said about the quarter. He talked about record revenues. “We have strong momentum,” he said, “very solid execution.” But he lowered guidance, lamented the debacles in China and Japan, and announced layoffs. Then he uttered the word “lumpy.”
This is What Mucks Up Housing, Costs Homeowners Dearly
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This is What Mucks Up Housing, Costs Homeowners Dearly
Home prices have jumped around the country, in some cities over 20% on an annual basis. “Recovery of the housing market,” is what this phenomenon is called. Everyone from President Obama on down has taken credit for it, particularly the Fed, whose handiwork this is. But there is a very ugly fly in this illusory ointment.