The politics of reviving the bailout deal

Politically the place a lot of members of the House of Representatives probably wanted to be yesterday was voting against the Paulson plan but it passing anyway. There is little public enthusiasm for bailing out Wall Street, both Obama and McCain are now making a concerted effort to call it a rescue plan not a bailout. Oddly enough if the plan passes and works it will become more unpopular as people will say that the crisis really wasn’t bad enough to justify this kind of measure.

But House Republicans, two thirds...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comment

Market Watch

Currently, the markets seem to be holding up as well as could be expected.  At the time of writing:

-- FTSE is at +0.44 percent
-- Dow Jones has opened around 2 percent up.
-- Nasdaq is at +2.48
-- Dax is at -1.17

Perhaps the most significant financial indicator of the day is that Libor - the rate at which banks lend to each other - has risen to an all-time high.  In other words, it's more expensive than ever for banks to borrow from each other - increasing the chances that more of them will need bailing out.

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (2)

Back at the House

There is talk coming out of Washington that the Senate will pass the bailout bill and send it back to the House, almost daring it to vote it down again. Speaking this morning, President Bush made it clear that he’s going to keep pushing for a bill, and enough House members might have been scared by yesterday’s fall on the Dow to get this passed second-time out.

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (10)

Market Watch

We'll be providing market updates here on Coffee House and Trading Floor today, as the financial turmoil continues.

So, just to recap:

-- The Dow Jones index closed at -6.98 percent yesterday evening.
-- Nasdaq closed at -9.14.
-- The Nikkei index closed this moring at -4.12
-- Hang Seng closed at +0.76

And so far today:

-- After an early plummet, the FTSE is hovering around the 0 percent mark.  It's currently at +0.17 percent.
-- Dax is at -0.98

Today's biggest loser so far has been HBOS - at time of writing, shares in that company are down around 10 percent.  As Paul Waugh points out, that could be causing a few headaches in No.10.

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comments (1)

Tesco bucks the doom and gloom

Terry Leahy is one of the few smiling faces in London this morning. He has much cause for celebration. Tesco’s half-year profits are up 10 per cent to £1.45 billion despite challenging economic conditions as the chain’s discounting strategy appears to be taking off.  

But adding to the debate on the wider economy he says that interest rate cuts are needed to stabilise the banking sector and rebuild consumer confidence.

He said: “Inflation has passed its peak ... and that will leave room for interest rate cuts which I think will be welcomed.

He told Reuters: “Also, though, it's important that we get banks back to doing their job, which is to provide liquidity for the real economy and lending at sensible prices.”

Tesco, he said, still has money to invest.

Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comment