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Currencies
As of 11/20/08

Lombard Street Research

Daily Note: Taiwan’s recession begins

WE SUGGEST: Taiex likely to drop further – but banks should survive SUMMARY: Taiwanese GDP contracted by 2.7% in Q3, the largest quarterly fall on record. The breakdown of the numbers strongly points to a continued fall in the current quarter, putting Taiwan in recession. However, both fiscal and monetary policy are being eased and there are some other factors that should dampen the impact on Taiwan of the global financial crisis. Read more

Economy News

Northern Trust

Daily Notes: Leading Index Points to Further Weakening of Economy

The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) dropped 0.8% in October after a revised 0.1% increase in September. The LEI has dropped in four of the last six months. On a year-to-year basis, the LEI has dropped 3.5%, the largest monthly decline for the current cycle. A marginally weaker situation was reported in April 2001 when the LEI dropped 3.6%. The fourth-quarter average of the LEI (using the October level as the proxy) has moved down 3.18% from a year ago. Read more

Nolte Notes

Weekly Commentary: The Billion-Dollar March

The billion-dollar march. As companies file into Washington to get in line for a government handout (cleverly disguised as a bailout!), the markets continue to mark down stocks in advance of the Christmas selling season. The TARP program, passed with the understanding that “toxic” bank debt would be purchased has been scuttled in favor of direct injection of capital into the banking system. Admittedly a better program, but the “on the fly” approach is making the market nervous that the powers that be do not have a mental grasp of the situation.Read more

Global Economics

Source: Bloomberg
(As of 10/29, Updated monthly)