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It's an intriguing -- many will say overly pessimistic -- take on the already raging debate about stagflation risks facing the U.S. and other major economies. If stagflation means no, or slow, economic growth combined with inflation, stagdeflation is falling prices and growth.
How about the new kid on the block Stagdeflation , worth considering
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a3VsZCSN4XgI&refer=home
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor's said it cut or may reduce ratings on $534 billion of subprime-mortgage securities and collateralized debt obligations, the most sweeping action in response to rising since home-loan defaults.
The downgrades may extend bank losses to more than $265 billion and have a ``ripple impact'' on the broader financial markets, S&P said in a statement today. The securities represent $270.1 billion, or 47 percent, of subprime mortgage bonds rated between January 2006 and June 2007. The New York-based ratings company also said it may cut 572 CDOs valued at $263.9 billion.
If everything is going up in price/ or costing more so to speak, what is stagflation
Can someone have a good take on this ?
Should it be a thread ? perhaps there is one
In fact, inflation could be contributing to the current slowdown.
"Domestic demand readings were weaker than we expected, not holding up well in the face of the inflation surge, driven mostly by energy costs," wrote Citigroup analyst Steven Wieting in a report this morning.
U.S. Payrolls Decline 17,000; Jobless Rate at 4.9%
The U.S. economy unexpectedly lost jobs in January for the first time in more than four years, adding to the case for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates further next month to head off a recession.
Payrolls fell by 17,000 after an 82,000 gain in December that was larger than initially reported, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate declined to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in December.
The drop in payrolls, in the wake of tighter credit, a deeper housing slump and a stumbling stock market, is the clearest sign yet that the U.S. expansion is at risk. Payrolls are one of the indicators, along with wages, production and sales, that help determine the start of economic contractions.
Economists' Forecasts
None of the 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the decline in payrolls, which was the first since August 2003. The median forecast in the survey projected payrolls would rise by 70,000, compared with an initially reported gain of 18,000 in December. Forecasts of an increase ranged from 5,000 to 160,000.
Revisions for November and December brought total job gains for the two months to 142,000, versus a previously reported 133,000.
Service industries, which include banks, insurance companies, restaurants and retailers, added 34,000 workers last month after an increase of 143,000 jobs in December. Retail payrolls climbed by 11,200 after a decline of 12,000 in December.
Factory payrolls dropped by 28,000 after falling 20,000 a month earlier. Economists had forecast a drop of 20,000 in manufacturing employment. Builders trimmed payrolls by 27,000 in January.
Government payrolls shrank by 18,000 during January, the first decline in six months, after rising 28,000 in December.
Revisions for 2007
With today's report, the Labor Department revised the payroll numbers after reviewing more complete tax data not available earlier from state unemployment insurance programs and making adjustments to its estimates of seasonal hiring patterns.
The revision subtracted 376,000 jobs from the previous estimate for the year ended December 2007, bringing total job growth for the period to 1.137 million.
Watching the sentiment shifts, while not surprising...predictable in fact, I still find breathtaking in their silliness.So whilst the market gets carried away with over-priced aquisitions of internet search engines the US economy continues to deteriorate:
'Cause they insist on using academic economic models, rather than real world models (e.g. Austrian theory)Economists again proved that they might as well throw darts to come up with their forecasts.
And check out the revisions to last years numbers. The BLS overstated job growth by more than 30,000 a month last year.
Indeed, as even the most rudimentary bush/real world economist expected.It's recession time.
Gawd I wish I had pay TV here, if only to see the discomfort of these clowns.Can't wait to see Brian Westbury's reaction today. He's already been on CNBC this morning saying how good the NFP report was going to be - moron.
...and they're gonna buy it up anyway!
LOL
Maybe the euphoria is wearing off. Microsoft is off 5%, as it should be for wildly overpaying for an acquisition that will be dilutive for at least 2 years. Imagine how much the market would be off without the Yahoo bid.
So whilst the market gets carried away with over-priced aquisitions of internet search engines the US economy continues to deteriorate.
It's recession time.
Two questions come to mind:
1. Why is it 'overpriced'? Every time a deal goes ahead these days, everyone immediately says it is 'overpriced'.
Remember acquisitions are strategic as well as financial decisions and companies have longer term outlooks then a few years.Microsoft want to challenge Google in the medium (the internet) that is changing society as we know it. A search engine would be central to this bid. You cannot just say it is 'overpriced'. Yahoo would attract a significant premiem for control of its assets. However I do understand that such premiums for control are hard to value.
2. A recession is defined as two or more quarter of negative GDP growth.
The NBER does not define a recession in terms of two consecutive quarters of decline in real GDP. Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. For more information, see the latest announcement on how the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee chooses turning points in the Economy and its latest memo, dated 07/17/03.
So yes, it is inevitable, but no, it does not have to be a disaster. The extent and depth of this recession is not known as yet.
Ahh the myth of decoupling, still alive and well.There are two contradictory trends - stress in the US and a boom in Asia.
'Recession' is an emotive word which is oft misrepresented by the mass media.
I have read predictions from the next depression to a blip in the long term growth trend. I suspect that, as with everything, the truth lies somewhere in between the extremes.
Nice try at setting up a straw man argument at the beginning of the post, however I can't let you get away with it. CNBC got so excited by this news this morning they forgot to take an ad-break for nearly an hour. All through the day they had analysts and others praising this deal as wonderful. It is the minority that think this deal is over-valued - at least at this point in time.
Thanks for the refresher course in M&A 101. I think we all have a grasp of the strategic and financial considerations of acquisitions.
So a company that has failed to make a significant online presence in monetizing search acquires another company that has failed to make a dent in google's dominance in this area. Two failures don't make a success.
As for the financials. Yahoo just reported a -23% decline in quarterly profit. Acquisitions are often measured by EBITDA multiples. Yahoo's FY07 EBIDTA came in at around $1.3 billion.That means Microsoft's offer is priced at an EBITDA multiple of more than 30x. Anyone with any experience in M&A deals will tell you that is very expensive.
Actually it isn't, that is a rough rule of thumb. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the final arbiter of recession calls. The following comes from their website;
True.
Ahh the myth of decoupling, still alive and well.
Yes, the word recession was introduced in the 1970's because people were afraid to use the word depression. Maybe we'll soon have another word to calm those frightened by the words recession. How about a 'reduced growth phase'?
I suspect you're proabably right. Then again, those extremes may not be extreme enough. Never discount the Black Swan theory.
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