Category Archives: Credit markets

China Won’t Be Taking Over

Why China is fragile and starting to look wobbly.

Wolf Richter: “Severe Collapse” of Home Prices Might Trigger a “Financial-Institution Crisis” in Australia: OECD Frets about the Banks

Australia looks to be on the verge of a nasty unwind of its housing bubble. A plunge would damage not only its banks but also retirement funds, since banks play an outsized role in the Australian stock market.

Global Uncertainty Is Rising, and That is a Bad Omen for Growth

The World Uncertainty Index reveals how uncertainty in the world has evolved over time, whether it is synchronised across countries, and how it compares across income groups and political regimes.

IMF, Warren Sound Alarm on Leveraged Lending

Concerns are building over the extent of leveraged lending, among regulators and politicians and the private sector alike. Some, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren see troubling signs that recall risks that triggered the Great Financial Crisis.

Is This Time Different? Examining Recent Emerging-Market Turbulence

Some emerging-market economies look wobbly. How likely are we to see more crises?

Marshall Auerback: Apple Has an Early Case of GE’s Disease

Silicon Valley stars like Apple suffer from financialization—the same ailment that felled GE and Lucent.

Wolf Richter: The State of the American Debt Slaves, Q3 2018

Consumer debt continues to grind upwards.

Mischaracterizing HAMP and Principal Reduction: A Regression Discontinuity Test Error

Explaining a fundamental error in a widely-touted paper on HAMP modifications.

As the Fed Tightens, Where Will the Credit Crunch Pinch First?

Who will feel the pain first in the coming credit squeeze?

What’s the Problem with Financialization?

Some of the analytical sleights of hand used to promote the ideology of financializatation.

“Fatally Flawed” Paper on HAMP Mortgage Program Gets Program Design Backwards, Botches Regression Analysis, Yielding Propagandistic Findings

How a new paper on HAMP manages, by not understanding the program. to whitewash it as well as promote financialization.

Michael Hudson: Rescuing the Banks Instead of the Economy

Michael Hudson on his themes of how banks are mainly funding real estate rather than the economy and the problem of failing to write down debt that can’t be repaid.

Contagion in the European CoCos Market

the possibility that the coupon payment on the CoCos issued by a single bank might be suspended led to very adverse dynamics in the entire market for CoCos that cannot be totally explained by banks’ fundamentals.

FICO Gets Creative With Credit Scores to Facilitate Getting More Americans in Debt

FICO is evil.

Student Debt Bondage Becoming More Widespread

More sobering news on the student debt front.