Economics Update

Well, the Europeans, or at least the Germans promise to be in major freak out mode for a while, as producer prices are increasing at 6.7%, and this means that the Germans, the largest economy in Europe, will be screaming for rate hikes, because it was only 80 years ago that you needed a wheelbarrow or marks to buy a loaf of bread.

Unsurprisingly, this drove the dollar down too, though a contributing factor may be a report published in the financial times that sovereign wealth funds are looking to reduce exposure to the dollar.

There is no stampede, but people are tiptoeing toward the exits on the dollar.

I'm not sure how related it is, sovereign wealth funds hold a big chunk of GSE debt, but Freddie Mac has filed with the SEC to sell stock in order to raise new capital.

In energy, dribbled down a bit^* to settle at $128.88/bbl, and retail gasoline fell about a penny.

In investment banking, Merrill Lynch lost $4.9 billion, and Citi lost $2.5 billion, though the latter was better than expected, and Citi will continue paying a dividend, which strikes me as foolish.

In real estate, evidence, in Orange County at least, that commercial real estate is comatose. A 91% drop in building, a 62% increase in vacancy, and a 2.5% decrease in rents.

It's grim in the UK too, with mortgage lending falling 32% year over year, with near certainty of the central bank increasing rates.

The UK is beginning to look like the San Diego of Europe.

^*No Apology for the pun.