Economics Update

Consumer prices rise by the highest amount since 1990, though it should be noted that the inflation numbers have become far less reflective of reality due to "creative massaging" since then.



H/t to The Big Picture for finding the cartoon.

Bond Insurerer Ambac Cuts Dividend, and declares loss, they are bleeding to death.

[on edit, added the following]
Standard & Poors raises the assumed losses on 2006 subprime bonds from 14% to 19% when it makes ratings on financial instruments, such as CDOs. They are in the process of reviewing their models for all outstanding mortgage backed debt. (The end result won't be pretty)

Then we have a report from JP Morgan saying that home equity delinquencies are high In fact, they are higher than they would have expected at the bottom of a recession, which implies that the way down is still pretty scary, and their profits fell 34%.

On the good news side, oil prices have fallen below $90/bbl, because traders expect to see a moderation in demand because of an economic slowdown.