Markets at
a Glance Macro-Economic
Data of the Major Economies
Up-to-date
comparative statistics of the major economies:
Growth,
Interest
rates, inflation, Exchange
rates, Unemployment,
Trade
Balance, Current Accounts, commodities etc ...
We now
hear almost every
day that banks will not lend to each other, or will do so only at
punitive interest rates. Credit spreads -- the difference between the
government cost to borrow and what private-sector borrowers must pay --
are at historic highs. Ms. Anna Schwartz,
co-author
with Milton Friedman of "A Monetary History of the United States"
explains that this is not due to a lack
of money available to lend, but to a lack of faith in the ability
of borrowers to repay their debts.
"The Fed has gone about
as if the problem is a shortage of liquidity. That is not the basic
problem. The basic problem for the markets is the uncertainty if the
balance sheets of financial firms are credible." Ms.
Schwartz here provides the evidence how
to restore interbank trust and how to avoid the present financial
crisis from develloping in a full blown depression.
Baltic
Dry Index (BDI)
The
BDI averages prices for chartering
commodity cargo. As
demand for
shipping cargo
directly varies with the commodity trading volume and the
supply of cargo capacity is highly inelastic in the short run, the
BDI
is
generally seen as an excellent and highly sensitive leading
indicator
of economic activity and growth.
