Short Interest

Iceland GDP

Walt Pohl — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:57:11 +0000

Here’s some surprising news. Iceland’s GDP falls less than expected. The total collapse of its financial sector has been mitigated by the collapse in its currency, which has made Iceland’s other exports of fish and aluminum more competitive.

Florida Housing Bubble

Walt Pohl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:53:47 +0000

Dr. Housing Bubble has a post describing the Florida housing bubble in the Roaring Twenties. It makes our housing bubble look like a staid and responsible affair.

Option ARMs

Walt Pohl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:18:42 +0000

Dr. Housing Bubble has a detailed post on Option ARM mortgages.

Sad News

Walt Pohl — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:04:37 +0000

Doris Dungey, better known as Tanta, one of the two bloggers at Calculated Risk, died on Sunday after a long bout with cancer. Tanta began blogging after her cancer had gone into remission. So even though she knew that the time left to her was short, she took the time to try to illuminate for us how we got into our current predicament. It was a heroic act, and one that will be long remembered.

Her coblogger, CR, has assembled a complete list of Tanta’s posts.

Philadelphia Destroys Everything

Walt Pohl — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:53:22 +0000

Being from Philadelphia, this post that describes how Philadelphia sports success leads to US economic failure strikes me as funny.

The Fed Paying Interest on Reserves

Walt Pohl — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:57:09 +0000

Macroblog has an explanation of why the Fed started paying interest on reserves.

How This Bear Market Compares

Walt Pohl — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:15:52 +0000

The New York Times has a striking graphic showing how this bear market compares to previous ones. Verdict? Bear-iffic!

Via The Big Picture.

Fed Commercial Paper Data

Walt Pohl — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:31:56 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk lately of the commercial paper market drying up. The financial commercial paper market has been hard-hit, of course, but there’s been speculation in the press that the contagion is spreading to the industrial side of the market, with potentially devastating impact on the real economy. It turns out that the Fed keeps close tabs on the commercial paper market, and releases regular data on the subject here. From the data, it seems clear that the impact on the non-financial sector has been small.

Via Epicurean Dealmaker.

FDIC Resolutions Handbook

Walt Pohl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:23:52 +0000

Are you curious what happens when the US government takes over a bank? The FDIC has the book for you.

Eight Hundred Years of Data

Walt Pohl — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:36:17 +0000

Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have announced a database of eight hundred years of sovereign debt crises. Now that’s a time series.