No theme today, really
Feb. 8th, 2008 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdIf you haven't checked the CMBX lately, you can see that credit risk perception continues to skyrocket; that's bad. Also, yesterday, the 30-year treasury auction was a bit of a disaster, the kind of disaster which indicates problems for the Fed in borrowing money to finance deficits. On a more individual level, consumer credit conditions have entered into a downward spiral, as defaults cause banks to ratchet down credit limits and up restrictions.
In energy news, keep the soaring cost and supply problems in coal in mind when noticing that OPEC is talking about cutting production. At US$90/barrel, that's kinda neat, particularly given that the major oil companies are failing to replace reserves consumed. (Chevron reported last week that they only managed to replace 10-15% of reserves consumed last year. That's very bad.) Reportedly, the OPEC nations want to defend $80/barrel oil. The oil bulls loved that, too, spiking crude oil prices up, sharply.
And just for general scariness, first, outgoing President Putin of Russia engages in a little sabre-rattling, warning the West to act on Russian security concerts, lest conditions lead to a new arms race. I agree that would be bad for essentially everyone, so let's try to avoid that. And secondly, Nouriel Roubini is getting more, not less worried about a general meltdown in the financial system, though does point at a couple of reasons to be hopeful it can still be avoided. Dr. Roubini has a very good track record these last couple of years; hopefully he's wrong this time. I wouldn't bet on that, but one can hope.
In energy news, keep the soaring cost and supply problems in coal in mind when noticing that OPEC is talking about cutting production. At US$90/barrel, that's kinda neat, particularly given that the major oil companies are failing to replace reserves consumed. (Chevron reported last week that they only managed to replace 10-15% of reserves consumed last year. That's very bad.) Reportedly, the OPEC nations want to defend $80/barrel oil. The oil bulls loved that, too, spiking crude oil prices up, sharply.
And just for general scariness, first, outgoing President Putin of Russia engages in a little sabre-rattling, warning the West to act on Russian security concerts, lest conditions lead to a new arms race. I agree that would be bad for essentially everyone, so let's try to avoid that. And secondly, Nouriel Roubini is getting more, not less worried about a general meltdown in the financial system, though does point at a couple of reasons to be hopeful it can still be avoided. Dr. Roubini has a very good track record these last couple of years; hopefully he's wrong this time. I wouldn't bet on that, but one can hope.
