Big events of the year
21 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 69 views]
Well, it would be churlish to deny the iPhone seems to have been the product of the year, although the Nintendo Wii has enjoyed something of a stunner too. Nintendo is now suffering from not being able to meet demand. As for central bankers, where do we begin? Is it the letter sent by Mervyn [...]
How subprime crunched credit
21 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 74 views]
It barely made the headlines. The first signs of a subprime crisis showed themselves in February. HSBC kicked the game off, when it announced it had to dramatically increase its provisions for bad debts in its US market. Then, still in that month, New Century Financial, which specialises in subprime loans, said it was being [...]
2007: A look back
21 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 69 views]
What a year. Who would have thought it? 2007 began with such promise and ended with such trepidation. This is the last issue of Investment and Business News from Defaqto this year, so we thought we would leave you with a reminder of how the economic prospects turned, and look at what 2008 may have [...]
Was the cavalry charge just a ruse? Now China plays the bugle
20 Dec 2007 [1 Comment | 122 views]
When one of the leading investment banks in the world reveals its first quarterly loss in 72 years, you know there must be trouble afoot. That’s what happened yesterday, but relax. China, with all its spare cash, came riding in over the hill, saving the day, as the business world’s equivalent of the US cavalry [...]
Morgan Stanley sees first loss in 72 years, as China steps into the breach
20 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 78 views]
“Whooops. I hadn’t expected that,” said members of a crack team of speculators at Morgan Stanley. It was one little error, one wrong bead on the abacus of corporate banking, and yet it cost the bank $7bn. As for the bottom line, the bank made a quarterly loss of $3.59 billion, the first loss in [...]
Indian giant prepares to drive off in a Jag
20 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 74 views]
If you are one of the accountants who read this newsletter brace yourself, you are about to get criticised. Still, we know you can take it, and, in any case, it had nothing to do with you. You see, Ford had this clever idea. Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover were all run separately, using [...]
Pound falls on interest rate hopes
20 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 73 views]
“It ain’t the rate of interest that’s the problem,” said Airbus Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday, “it’s the lack of credit.” You will recall, yesterday, the President of the European Central Bank took Helicopter Ben (Bernanke’s) idea for solving a credit crisis by scattering money across the land a step further. Mr Trichet and his ECB cohorts [...]
EU ministers turn to jellyfish, as they put back fishing recovery
20 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 66 views]
Do you remember Erich von Däniken? He was that guy who tried to persuade us the statues on Easter Island were made by men from outer space. The truth was altogether more alarming. The indigenous population of that island followed a religion that required the erection of statues. To transport the stone the statues were [...]
Hobbit rushes in as Golden Compass points down
19 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 75 views]
This is not really a proper business news story, but it is Christmas, so too bad. If you have taken the trouble to see the film Golden Compass, you may be left wondering what all the fuss was about. Any kind of anti-religious theme was about as subtle as the Bank of England warning of [...]
Inflation drops
19 Dec 2007 [0 Comments | 82 views]
At last, some good news on inflation. Even the inevitable “but” that follows the good news is not that much of a but. More of a ‘bu,’ in fact. At first glance it may not seem like good news. The CPI rate of inflation stayed on hold in November: at 2.1 percent it is 0.1 [...]
