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Lloyd’s (LLOY) to takeover HBOS (HBOS)

September 18, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
"The deal’s being described as a private sector solution – but this could never have happened without government backing, for reasons we’ll go into in a moment." — John Stepek Blogger’s note: You may not have noticed, but two of the Big Five banks in the UK just agreed to a merger. The news [...]

ETFs: The real reason for the Fed’s AIG bailout

September 17, 2008 · Filed Under US Stocks and Markets · Comments 
"We can’t say we’re surprised. While workers at Lehman might feel somewhat aggrieved, it seems the Fed decided that AIG really was too big to fail." — John Stepek Blogger’s note: So why would the Fed bailout AIG after leaving Lehman Brothers hanging only days earlier? The real reason, according to John Stepek of the [...]

Don’t buy Russian stocks — yet

September 12, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
"The Russians, never the most likely converts to free market capitalism, aren’t too happy about falling prices either. Two in particular are worrying them – the falling prices of Russian stocks, and the falling oil price." — John Stepek by John Stepek Baltimore and London — (TFN): Free markets and capitalism are wonderful things, everyone [...]

Fannie (FNM), Freddie (FRE) & the Fed: The market always wins

September 11, 2008 · Filed Under US Stocks and Markets · Comments 
"All this miserable little episode in economic history tells us is this – the market will get you in the end, even if it takes 60-odd years to do so." - John Stepek Blogger’s note: The government has decided to swallow both Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) whole. But let’s remember that this [...]

Should the government bailout real estate?

August 29, 2008 · Filed Under Real Estate · Comments 
"In the wake of a bubble popping, you often hear another phrase, which may well qualify as the second-most expensive four words in the English language. And we’re hearing it more and more from the property pundits, politicians and City hotshots who stand to lose most from [...]

Buy these funds and ETFs to profit from the biotech merger boom

August 22, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
"There have been a mass of deals in the U.S., while on this side of the Atlantic, a number of attractive little biotech stocks have been approached or agreed to bids in the last couple of months." — John Stepek Blogger’s note: You probably heard about the $43 billion Roche (RHHBY:OTC) bid [...]

Now is not the time to become a landlord in the U.S. or UK

August 19, 2008 · Filed Under Real Estate · Comments 
"All those poor old first-time buyers are being forced to rent because those mean banks won’t let them borrow enough money to buy a home. And people who do manage to sell their homes, aren’t looking to buy again until the market stops crashing. So that means that demand for rental property is rising, which [...]

Russia-Georgia War was caused by the global credit crunch

August 12, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
"The end of the easy money era and the war in Georgia don’t, at first glance, seem to have an obvious connection. But they are linked." — John Stepek Blogger’s note: Want to know who caused Russia’s war against Georgia? Well, you could say Allan Greenspan started it. Or you could blame [...]

Think the British Banks Hit Bottom? You’re Wrong

August 5, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
"It’s not true that no one saw the credit crunch coming. Sure, we may not have known exactly how the blow-up would manifest itself. But it was obvious to many people in the City and on Wall Street that something had to give." — John Stepek by John Stepek [...]

Has Real Estate Hit Bottom?

July 28, 2008 · Filed Under Real Estate · Comments 
“Could we be on the verge of a turnaround? The weekend press was full of the news that some mortgage lenders are actually starting to trim rates. A few commentators even suggested that it was nearly time to go bargain hunting.” — John Stepek Blogger’s note:  The real estate [...]

Why This Housing Bubble Is Different

July 7, 2008 · Filed Under Real Estate · Comments 
“First they had the housing boom. Then they had the foreclosure boom. And that, it seems, has lead to a boom in arson.” — John Stepek Blogger’s note: John Stepek of UK’s MoneyWeek had some great insight on the housing bubble. He told readers of his free email Money Morning UK [...]

This is Worse than the Credit Crunch

June 9, 2008 · Filed Under US Stocks and Markets · Comments 
“The vague hope that the financial fallout was over has seen stock markets around the world rally somewhat since their low points earlier this year. But news at the end of last week knocked them for six.” — John Stepek by John Stepek Baltimore – (TFN): The markets have [...]

U.S. Economy: Don’t trust the GDP

May 6, 2008 · Filed Under US Stocks and Markets · Comments 
“Apparently, the US economy grew by 0.6% year-on-year in the first three months of 2008. It’s not great, but it’s not a recession. Meanwhile, jobs data on Friday showed that there were just 20,000 job losses in April, against expectations for a 65,000 fall. So has everything been blown out of proportion? Was the credit [...]

Foreign Investment: Bank of England solves the UK banking crisis?

April 24, 2008 · Filed Under International Investing · Comments 
“Mr. King has attached enough conditions to these loans to make the risk to the taxpayer much smaller than it might have been. He’s also helped to make life easier for banks with genuine liquidity problems. Problems with actual solvency are quite another matter however.” — John [...]

British Property Bubble: Default wave about to hit UK real estate

December 26, 2007 · Filed Under Real Estate · Comments 
"The UK housing market is going downhill fast. And as we’ve been predicting, we’ve just seen the first commercial property fund ban retail investors from withdrawing their money." — John Stepek by John Stepek, MoneyWeek  Baltimore — (TFN): It’s easy to get bamboozled by the scale of the numbers and the ridiculous acronyms that fly [...]

Special Video Alert: China’s role in the BHP - Rio Tinto drama

November 17, 2007 · Filed Under Gold and Resources · Comments 
Today’sFinancialNews.com Baltimore — (TFN): Last week, mining magnate BHP Billiton cheerfully submitted a takeover offer for Rio Tinto worth $174 billion. Rio Tinto rejected the offer. It doesn’t matter that BHP’s offer constituted a 25% premium to Rio Tinto’s price at the time. And apparently it doesn’t matter that BHP offered an additional [...]

Global Mergers: The End of the Resource Boom?

November 14, 2007 · Filed Under Gold and Resources · Comments 
“Merger talks between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto could signal the end of the commodities boom, say some analysts. If you believe that I’ve got the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge up on eBay. Care to put in a bid?” — Sara Nunnally by Sara Nunnally, Today’sFinancialNews.com Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Baltimore — (TFN): BHP Billiton cheerfully submitted [...]

Resource Investing: What to make of the Rio Tinto - BHP Billiton merger plans

November 14, 2007 · Filed Under Gold and Resources · Comments 
“If BHP did indeed buy out Rio Tinto, the resulting company would control 36% of the seaborne iron ore market and it would hold a third of the global coal market (mostly the third that’s not powering China at the moment). And if nothing else, a company with a controlling stake in two of its [...]