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Friday, January 29, 2010
After a busy busy week, I am happy to get back to the blog today and hit on a few points I missed while drowning in Excel hell...
-Hot off the presses: US GDP surged a whopping 5.7% in Q4 2009, the best quarter in over six years, and driven by companies ramping up production to overcome thin inventories amid rising consumer demand. Consumer spending, which accounts for over 2/3 of US economic activity, expanded by a better-than-expected 2%. I'm not even going to make a comment about a job-less recovery, as these are really strong numbers, unless I just did...
-Bernanke wins reappointment, which Simon Johnson believes is the beginning of the end for financial reform. While I disagree (though I imagine the difference in our expectations is only a matter of degree), Johnson's post is great on the strength of the following sentence:
And now we can look back over 20 years and be honest with ourselves: Alan Greenspan contends for the title of most disastrous economic policy maker in the recent history of the world
-The FT has you covered for all things Davos. It's been striking just how little coverage the World Economic Forum has received this year. I wonder if our appetite for it has diminished due to a credibility gap, or if there has been a conscious effort by the WEF to keep a low profile?
-Chavez orders the central bank to 'burn the hands' of currency 'speculators' by selling dollars to strengthen the Bolivar by some 30% in unregulated trading. Massive capital flight complicates his plans.
-FP Passport asks the question we've all been wondering: 'Did Romania's president use the occult to get reelected?"
-Greece is offering investors a large yield premium on its upcoming bond issue, an event deemed 'absolutely critical' to market sentiment and the government's efforts to reign in the budget.
-Are you an English hooligan? Planning on watching your boys lose to the mighty mighty US in person this World Cup (jk)? Denied!
Labels: central banking, Currencies, Football, greece, sovereign debt
