$1 USD, that's like $1 CAD?

[Andrew]

Dow Jones reached bottom 1 year ago. Has increased 61.5% since then. I bet a lot of people got rich because of that.

Oh, and Canadian banks are reporting real high profits.

Scotiabank profit jumps 17%

Wow, they're stock increased 94.5% in past 1 year. Wild ride there.

[Dante]

Oh those wacky Germans, they're at it again.

German pensioners found guilty of kidnapping financial adviser

[Andrew]

Big news

Canadian Banks bump up mortgage rates

Mortgage rates went up 0.6% today.

Canada recently had higher than expected inflation which means the Bank of Canada will probably increase their rate April 20. Another sign of impending inflation :-

Higher interest rates means higher Canadian dollar value. So expect parity with USD when BoC announces in a month.

[Andrew]

Loonie reaches U.S. parity

Here we go. hopefully cheap imports.

[chatfsh]

The euro plunged today on the news that the S&P credit rating agency downgraded the sovereign debt of Greece to junk status while downgrading Portugal to A-  with a negative outlook.  Shortly, we

[chatfsh]

More woes for Europe as the euro falls to record lows and the pound continues to weaken despite the promise of a coalition government headed by Cameron.  And now the shrewd Germans have decided to ban short-selling and credit-default swaps which has the market in quite the panic since this severely limits the ability to hedge the bets on risky debt and

[Andrew]

Meanwhile, the banks are still making a killing

[chatfsh]

Yes, I work amongst such people every day.  You would be sickened to know what sort of incentives and salaries these investment bankers are paid.  (Well, the public already has some idea, but I see it up front and personal).  All this economic turmoil and they never missed a beat.  And since I

[Dante]

"Work amongst," "employed by" ? Sounds like someone is shifting the blame.

[Andrew]

"Work amongst," "employed by" ? Sounds like someone is shifting the blame.

Well it is the guys near top that decide they want to create derivatives that are designed to fail so they can profit from it.

The banks wanted a failure in housing. Or I guess at best, created assets that would be profitable when they failed. Since banks are the ones making loans, they probably have inside knowledge about the industry/market (housing bubble), and thus tried making money when bubble popped. And the government paid them to do it with bailouts.

Government can't let big banks fail. So big banks absorb other big banks, and now we end up with more power/wealth in fewer organizations.

[Sneakgab]

In general, that wealth is concentrated into fewer and fewer hands (or rather, a smaller proportion of population perhaps), is a nigh indisputable rule of Capitalism. All history has shown this (as far as I know).

[athanasios]

I smell a lot of upheaval. Things have gone beyond the turning point. The end of Capitalism is near. It will be evident in a couple of months, when both US and European economies will collapse.

[chatfsh]

"Work amongst," "employed by" ? Sounds like someone is shifting the blame.

Despite the fact that I remain gainfully employed by one of these

[Dante]

Uf course hyu don't. Doink de vork und acceptink de vages don't make hyu part uf de problem at all.

[SandChigger]

<i>"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."</i>

Rationalization, delusion... It's all part of a pattern.

<i>"There goes the shawl again!"</i>

[Edric O]

Uf course hyu don't. Doink de vork und acceptink de vages don't make hyu part uf de problem at all.

Actually, Dante, she's right this time. The employees of a company can't be held accountable for the actions of the owners and managers. She could find a different job, yes, but all capitalist businesses exploit their workers and are involved to a greater or lesser extent in villainous dealings. You cannot divide the economy into those who are "part of the problem" and those who are not "part of the problem". The whole system is the problem, and we cannot remove ourselves from it on an individual basis.

[chatfsh]

Such a wonderfully auspicious start to my day. :)

If only the financial markets would fair so well.  The Dow hasn

[Dante]

Of course the system is the problem. If she removed herself from it, would it continue blithely on without her? Naturally. Nevertheless "I was just following orders" isn't an acceptable excuse for soldiers. Why should it be so for bankers?

Besides which, her repeated "oh look, Europe is foundering" smugness is somewhat unprofessional, not to mention failing in its primary objective.

[chatfsh]

Smugness?  I am merely commenting on the unenviable economic situation in which Europe finds itself.  The nature of my job requires that I pay close attention to the latest happenings and trends in global financial markets since such events have a huge impact on my line of business and on the world in general.  In other words, it

[Dante]

Sensitive, she says. *chuckle*

Perhaps Hy vouldn't need to be zo devenzive if hyu deedn't keep makink unprovoked attaks on everyting dot Hy sopport, hm? Thiz sudden anti-Europe, anti-evolotion, anti-climate change, anti-gay, anti-zience perspectiv dot hyu adopted, vun can't help bot vonder if dere's some sort uf root cause to all dese tings. Certainly Hy'm not de only vun who's noticed it.

[chatfsh]

Do try to stay on topic and keep your delusions to yourself.

****

Oh man, is anyone else watching the market today?  Stocks continue their downward spiral, plunging worlwide across Europe, Asia, and the US.  Leading indicators in the US have turned sour, painting a dire picture for the second half of the year.  Where herd mentality reigns, jittery nerves are the last thing the world economy needs. 

Timing wise, what were you thinking, Merkel?

[Dante]

Seems like I hit a nerve. Good.

As for the economy, the public can only listen to dire predictions for so long before it becomes dull. One disaster after another, yes yes we get it already. It's hard to feel at all interested or sympathetic.

[Andrew]

I found this piece of news today very interesting:

Jobless claims rise by largest amount in 3 months

So the amount of new people filing for employment insurance as increased. Not a good sign, when recovery was supposed to be happening.

That's probably what caused the markets to be scared.

The whole oil spill, looks like it will destroy Gulf of Mexico and will be coming up the Atlantic coast soon. If enough interest in oil spill discussion, someone feel free to make a thread. There are already media bans on documenting the spill.

[chatfsh]

I found this piece of news today very interesting:

Jobless claims rise by largest amount in 3 months

So the amount of new people filing for employment insurance as increased. Not a good sign, when recovery was supposed to be happening.

That's probably what caused the markets to be scared.

U.S. stocks had been declining for days on fears that European leaders would not be able to gain control over their debt crisis.  But the unexpected negative labor figures, along with other disappointing indicators, kicked the sell off into high gear.

Predictably, treasury yields are sinking as demand for them rises, but oil and gold are down.  Strange. I suspect that gold prices are being kept artificially low as foreign investors choose to put their financial faith in U.S. treasuries instead of gold.

[athanasios]

Oil will go up again.