The FDIC’s deposit insurance fund balance, an expression of its net worth, is -$20.9bn, because of provisions taken against failing banks. (To be scared further on that subject, see Calculated Risk.)
There were 2,860 mass layoffs during January in the US. Mass layoffs are from establishments that have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment filed against them in a five-week period.
The numbers are up 24 per cent on last month, which was itself up 24 per cent on the month before. On average, 97 people are laid off at each of these layoff ‘events’. Read more
I was once refused a mortgage because I had never had a credit card. Prudence apparently made me a dubious debtor. Might Estonia’s prudence imperil its bid to join the euro? With government debt below 10 per cent of GDP, Estonia has not needed to issue a benchmark bond. Such a bond would give evidence of low and stable interest rates, a pre-requisite for entry into the euro, slated for 2011, argues Sakari Suoninen of Macroscope blog, adding that other indicators can probably substitute.
As Sakari points out, it will be very impressive if Estonia meets the eurozone’s entry requirement: no country already using the common currency would qualify to join the bloc this year. Read more
For emerging markets, at least.
Adair Turner is such a trend-setter. He backed a Tobin tax, and the world laughed. Then the world paused and considered. And now there is a great deal of support for the idea. Read more
Apparently, sterling has fallen on the back of zero QE news from Mervyn King at parliament’s Treasury Committee this morning.
The policy of quantitative easing – whereby the central bank increases its credit balance and buys assets – finished in early February. But its resumption was never ruled out. Time and again, Mr King has said the policy would be reinstated if needed. Read more
Big numbers probably have little effect on you, post crisis. Once a number is beyond a multiple of one’s own salary or house value, it is beyond comprehension. But $3,335bn? That is how much the US will need to refinance in the next six years from syndicated loans.
Regular blog readers will recall that Spain is facing $200bn maturing syndicated loans in the coming six years, dwarfing what is owed by Greece. That is about a fifth of the country’s annual income. But what is owed by the US is approaching a quarter. Read more
Traders say the Swiss National Bank was seen in Asian markets selling francs and buying euros. This would fit with Phillip Hildebrand’s stated policy of intervention to prevent excessive appreciation of the franc, which could harm Switzerland’s economic recovery. The SNB declined to comment. (Reuters)
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Perhaps Japan will take a note out of Israel’s book. There is an ongoing war of words between Japan’s finance ministry and its central bank, in which the government asks the bank to tackle deflation, and the bank asks the government to fix the fiscal deficit. As Robin has pointed out, the ‘pressure’ being applied to the bank is more of a nudge than an ultimatum. But if the government wanted to step up the pressure, it could use the minimum wage to affect monetary dynamics. This is a charge levelled today by Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer against the Israeli finance ministry, who told parliament the tactic has been used at least once (Israeli speech from Bloomberg). Read more
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Chris Giles has been the economics editor of the Financial Times since 2004. Based in London, he writes about international economic trends and the British economy. Before reporting economics for the Financial Times, he wrote editorials for the paper, reported for the BBC, worked as a regulator of the broadcasting industry and undertook research for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. RSS
Michael Steen, Frankfurt bureau chief, covers the ECB and the eurozone's economies. He joined the Financial Times in 2007 as Amsterdam correspondent and later worked as a front page news editor in London. Before joining the FT, he spent nine years as a correspondent at Reuters, mostly in foreign postings that included a previous stint in Frankfurt, as well as Moscow, Kiev and central Asia. He read German and Russian at Cambridge.RSS
Robin Harding is the FT's US economics editor, based in Washington. Prior to this, he was based in Tokyo, covering the Bank of Japan and Japan's technology sector, and in London as an economics leader writer. Robin studied economics at Cambridge and has a masters in economics from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a Monbusho scholar. Before joining the FT, Robin worked in asset management and banking. RSS
Ralph Atkins, capital markets editor, has been writing for the Financial Times for more than 20 years following an economics degree from Cambridge. From 2004 to 2012, Ralph was Frankfurt bureau chief, watching the European Central Bank and eurozone economies. He has also worked in Bonn, Berlin, Jerusalem and Brussels. RSS
Claire Jones is Money Supply economics team writer, based in London. Before joining the Financial Times, she was the editor of the Central Banking journal and CentralBanking.com. Claire studied philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics. RSS
