Loose Foundations

I’m tired. I was rudely awoken this morning by a fox who was having difficulty trying to sell his home and on the verge of a communication breakdown with his wife, Mrs. Fox. The kids had left the den to achieve greater things whilst he was left with issues to solve: how to pay the mortgage, how to save for his pension and what to eat for supper. His problem, not mine. Until he starts barking outside my window. Seems like noone can avoid the credit crunch…

Tuesday Reading

Yahoo release PowerPoint presentation in attempt to win over shareholders, about what went wrong in the attempted Microsoft takeover although it will be disputed by some… 

Oil prices rise again, over a dollar, due to Iran and Israel tension.

FTSE starts week on a high as metal groups like Anglo American and Rio Tinto boom, despite ‘a spate of horrendous corporate news’.

The UK’s largest car dealer, Pendragon, has had to cut 500 jobs in the wake of poor sales.

UBS are planning to sell Paine Webber, its US wealth management to raise ‘a significant amount of cash’.

Germany seem to be resistant to stagflation as unemployment levels reach lowest in 16 year, just 7.8%.

Why did Bear Stearns collapse?

5 things to do whilst in a ‘financial panic’.

42000: The number of UK mortgage approvals, down to a fifteen year low.

Initial public offerings fall to lowest in 5 years as signs of an economic slowdown play on companies’ minds.

Four of the longest serving directors quit UBS leaving it poised for a shake-up.

Storms and floods damage crops in US leaving panic over bio-fuels.

Story Of The Day

HMV records full-year profits due to surge of buyers in video games. OK, this could be the reason, or it could be due to their extortianate prices. I made the mistake in buying The Best Of Blur, the other day at HMV. There was no mistake in my choice of record but the £15 i paid for it was. To my horror, 5 days later i walk into the Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastore, in Piccadilly Circus, and spotted the same CD for just £6. I walked home in a huff having been charged 250% more. This is why people download musi illegally, spite.

Further Sightings Of Bears

Monday’s Reading

Advisor to Gordon Brown claims housing market will not pick up again until 2015.

Dow Jones has its worst June since The Great Depression.

Lawrence Summers asks what can be done during this ‘most dangerous moment’.

Iron ore prices are set to nearly double as Rio Tinto Group sign agreement with Baosteel Group.

France Telecom abandon $42 billion bid for Nordic company Teliasonera.

Shares that are illiquid and rarely traded are the ‘roses among the wallflowers’

Central bank independance will come to an end…sooner than we realise.

Merrill Lynch, UBS and Goldman Sachs show ‘need to throw good money after bad’ 

Will Bear Stearns face more indictments after new charges are believed to be brought against them?

Bear Stearns aren’t the only ones in trouble as law suits have been filed against UBS, Merrill Lynch and One Source in the previous six months.

Young hedge fund managers are more dangerous than their elders due to risky behaviour being ‘rewarded in a bubble’.

An unopened copy of “Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman”, regarding bank Lehman Brothers, is being sold on amazon.com for over $400.

Who benefitted and who was left worse off at the end of last week.

Story Of The Day

‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane has completed an agreement with Google to create a new animation that will be released exclusively on the web.

As a ‘Family Guy’ fanatic this was quite exciting for me, especially since i don’t have the means to view Fox. The question is whether web exclusives will destroy televison networks or give the TV stations more of an incentive to attract the best programs to them. Frankly, as long as there are talking cartoon dogs and egomaniacal, psychopath babies somewhere in this world…Enough said.