Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets looks at competitive devaluation, current account balances and trade spats.
For some stats and background U.S. trade deficit charts and updates available here at Calculated Risk.
While some parts of the U.S. economy may have turned something of a corner the problem spots are gonna take a long time (years) to work out.
Check this comment from Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco picked up by Bruce Krasting…
“- Currently the Enterprises are managing a real estate owned (REO) inventory of almost 100,000 properties, a number expected to grow.”
That’s a lot of houses. Entire 14-page FHFA Senate testimony here.
Alas, it doesn’t look like the problems are being ironed out in the space, rather aggravated further. Calculated Risk looks at a New York Times article about a new wave of silly loans fermenting at the Federal Housing Administration.
An extreme piece of anecdotal evidence on the poor employment situation in the United States – 10,000 apply for 90 factory jobs
A long (as usual) New Yorker Profile of the, how shall I put this… ‘unorthodox’ former hedge fund manager Martin Armstrong and technical analysis. Mr. Armstrong’s latest missive (I think) is available here for those interested – long at 77-pages.
A less flattering, more amusing, dated and shorter profile of ‘Marty’ written by Tokyo markets prognosticator Cassandra and is also available here.
Alternatively, you can rent Darren Aronofsky’s debut film Pi, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Armstrong’s travails but with a great Oribital soundtrack, lashings of Jewish mysticism, and a side-helping of migraines & nose-bleeding scenes for good measure. (It’s also a good movie)
Pershing Square’s latest short idea and it’s a… REIT.
Econbrowser has some good fodder for the peak oil brigade and implications for big oil M&A.
Unexpected payoffs three and half decades later – Scientific American explores why the current strain of H1N1 swine flu is hitting the under 30s far harder than the over 60s.
