Stop the presses

— and hold a spot on page one. Microsoft product leads to crash: Skype: Outage caused by Microsoft update MATT MOORE Associated Press August 20, 2007 FRANKFURT — A two-day outage that left millions of Skype users unable to use the popular Internet phone service was caused by an abnormally high number of restarts aftercontinue reading

It’s a small world, small island edition

Watch the British housing market, says Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight in the Guardian: “The overall impression we get from the very latest data and survey evidence is that the housing market has peaked and is gradually and erratically coming off the boil.” Mr Archer added that prices were unlikely to slowcontinue reading

It’s a small world, after all

The US hipbone is connected to the Indian thighbone, thanks to outsourcing: First Magnus Halts Loans, Citing `Collapse’ of Mortgage Market By Jody Shenn Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — First Magnus Financial Corp., the second-largest privately held U.S. mortgage company, stopped lending after bids for its home loans disappeared. “In light of the collapse of thecontinue reading

Right back where we started from

Maybe it is 2001, after all: TSX plummets 585 points on credit fears, biggest drop seen in six years August 16, 2007 – 13:28 One other thought: – The thing that seems to be causing the most static in the subprime mortgage sector is the adjustable rate mortgages, like the 2/28, where the first twocontinue reading

Now even crunchier!

So everyone’s piling on now: – OPEC: “The more bearish economic trend which has materialized in recent weeks could negatively impact demand growth in the second half of the year.” – WTO: Global economic and trade expansion could slump in 2008 because of the credit crunch sparked by the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgagecontinue reading

Everything old is new again

OK, forget 2001 pre-September. Think back to the summer of 1998. Where were you? What were you doing? (OK, so I know the answer to that for most of you.) Think back to key events: The Russian ruble’s collapse. Long-Term Capital Management’s blow-up. Week-long canoe trips. Here’s why the sub-prime mortgage problem cannot be contained.continue reading

Up with Mondays

Back in the early part of 2001, when the tech meltdown was underway, the stock markets were incredibly volatile, as a look at the CBOE’s VIX index since 1990 shows: A pattern emerged: throughout the week, things would get progressively worse, with Fridays ending down a few hundred points, the decline usually accelerating after 2continue reading

Blogging schadenfreude

Slate had a story on the collapsing housing market in Orange County, California recently, noting the ties between Irvine as corporate headquarters to some major mortgage lenders and the rapid decline in house prices. The story linked to the Irvine Housing Blog, which I’m finding oddly gripping, despite the highly repetitive nature of its posts.continue reading

Me and Misha

Over time, the spam filter on my e-mail account has become smarter, shielding me from random Biblical quotes and letters from the many bankers of the victims of that 2000 Concorde crash. So I was pleased to see that the filter is so sensitive that it knew to let in an e-mail plea for helpcontinue reading

I see the difference. Can you see the difference?

The Star polishes up yesterday’s Ontario Auditor General report on the immigration year-end grants: Auditor General Jim McCarter found that Liberal connections played no role in which groups received money, but that the money was doled out without proper controls. What the Auditor General actually said (emphasis added): We found no evidence that any organizationcontinue reading