Economics Update

Well, it appears that it's been an unsettled day, likely because of concerns about the GSE(s), which will get its own post, and as a result, oil hit a new intra day high, $47.50/bbl, before settling to $143.84/bbl.

Note that in addition to uncertainty in Iran and Nigeria, there is now a possibility of a strike in Brazil.

Gasoline prices fell though, finishing below $4.10/gal for the first time in a week.

In currency, uncertainty has driven the dollar down, but there is a bit of a bright side to all of this, because the falling dollar is pushing the trade deficit down.

The problem is that once the dollar settles down to a more sustainable level, there will be a high inflation interregnum where imports prices will go up, but there will be no domestic businesses to pick up the slack.

Nothing on US real estate today, but in the UK, their housing crash is the worst since the Great Depression.

Additionally, we have a monetary picture that appears to point toward a vicious deflationary recession spiral.

Chart pr0n: