by James

I last posted on the Russian market rout in the wake of the war with Georgia. Even as I wrote, the market was entering a new phase of its collapse. Although the international picture contributed, domestic factors had dominated the sell-off originally, bringing the key indexes down by more than 40%. The second phase of [...]

by James

We live in interesting times. The markets were extremely volatile last week, as the Fed and Treasury battled to convince law-makers to save the economy from falling into a recession. The S&P was off by 6% midweek, but rebounded toward the end, to close off 3.3%. For its part, the dollar held up, rising 1.4% [...]

by James

At last, a “comprehensive solution” as predicted in the last Weekly Outlook & Review (before the markets had time to process the decline of Lehman and bail out of Merrill). The US authorities created a dramatic conclusion to an exceptional week of financial turmoil on Thursday night, by confirming their intention to risk state capital [...]

by Dino

Investors fear not! The rocket scientists at the SEC have carried out a rigorous and methodical analysis of the facts and, based on their findings, “acting in concert with the U.K. Financial Services Authority, took temporary emergency action to prohibit short selling in financial companies to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market [...]

by Jürgen

Three months ago, GDF (Gaz de France) and Suez merged after more than two years of preparation. The new group – GDF Suez – is a global player in the energy business, with strong financials and a well developed business model. Recently, however, they hunted for NAM, a Dutch company active in the oil business. [...]

by Dino

On July 17, angry Pakistani investors stoned the Karachi Stock Exchange, smashed windows and cursed regulators after the benchmark index fell for a 15th straight day, the worst losing streak in 18 years. US and UK regulators must have been thinking of these spiteful reactions when they decided to take the matter of falling share [...]

by Markus

Minus 500 points in the DJI. S&P 500, the broader market index, lost even more (in %) than the Dow. Asia was sliding. Roubini and others might open a bottle of champagne.  Prost. Paulson said last night that he “never once considered it would be appropriate to put tax payers money at risk” to bail [...]

by James

Russia’s benchmark RTS Index has dropped nearly 50 percent since peaking on May 19 and nearly 30 percent since the outbreak of war with Georgia over South Ossetia. Addressing ongoing declines last week, President Dmitry Medvedev and other officials promised that the government has the power to return the market to previous highs and blamed [...]