This week on FT Alphaville,
- There was some debate mid-week about whether we’d be hearing much more about this subprime business in Europe…even though the UK numbers weren’t looking good.
- On Thursday we got the answer. A plague upon our European houses!
- The ECB got involved, which prompted central banks from the US to Asia to intervene.
- Suddenly there were a whole lot more unknown unknowns than anyone had realised.
- And the rumours were flying: is Bear’s James Cayne on his way out? Is Tykhe Capital gonna blow?
- By the end of the week, we’d learnt a new phrase, a Minsky Moment, thanks to CLSA’s Christopher Wood and RGE
Monitor’s Nouriel Roubini.
- DK’s Albert Edwards was also classically unhappy: “Ivestors believe profits can still advance robustly despite GDP growth below 2 per cent year on year. Utter, utter tosh!!”
- Meanwhile, UBS overhauled their rating system. Their new short-term rating system may have come in handy by the end of the week. And spare a thought for some of those caught out by events this week – which saw global equity markets plunge and credit markets go all over the place.
- Still, we managed to find the time to go in search of that elusive Japanese housewife, Mrs Watanabe, and ask her exactly what she thinks she’s been playing at.
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