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Jeremy Warner's Outlook: It may not work, but at last policymakers are on the right track

Thursday, 9 October 2008

The judgement of markets can hardly be described as positive, but it seems to me that the UK authorities have belatedly got their response to the banking crisis broadly right with yesterday's wide-ranging package of measures. Dithering ministers and policy wonks have been swept aside. Treasury mandarins, the Sir Humphreys of this world if you like, seem to be firmly back in the driving seat. Measured and considered, this is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: A comprehensive bailout for banks, but will it work?

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Sir Fred Goodwin's top bullet point in his slide presentation to the Merrill Lynch banking conference in London yesterday morn-ing was: "The outlook is subdued". Even by the notoriously phlegmatic standards of the Royal Bank of Scot-land chief executive, this was something of an understatement. In fact, the outlook was truly dire at the time he made his remarks, as one glance at Sir Fred's plummeting share price graphically illustrated – at the close, it was down by nearly 40 per cent to a 15-year low of less than a pound.

Sean O'Grady: It never rains...

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Even before they were printed, the IMF's latest economic forecasts were way out of date

Sean O'Grady: A frightening blast from the past

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

There is an odd smell in the air. The authorities' rescue plan for the banks feels just a little like those attempts to save the pound before any of its frequent devaluations in the past

Banks set to agree £50bn package

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Exclusive: Jeremy Warner on how a dramatic meeting in Downing Street is likely to lead to £50bn recapitalisation package - and why it may not be enough.

Treasury fiddles as markets crash

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: The Chancellor said nothing new and failed to provide the confidence needed.

Jeremy Warner: If Brown doesn't act now, he may be forced to later

Monday, 6 October 2008

It's every country for itself, it seems. Less that a day after leaders of Europe's four biggest economies agreed to co-ordinate their response to the growing banking crisis, Germany has unilaterally announced that it is guaranteeing the deposits of all its major banks, action which when taken by Ireland and Greece last week prompted fierce criticism from Germany.

Stephen King: Roosevelt's lesson... a decisive act to break the psychology of depression

Monday, 6 October 2008

What should you do if your banking system doesn't work? Some will doubtless celebrate, arguing that banks are the source of all monetary evil. Others will panic, worrying about the onset of another Great Depression. Policymakers, though, should do neither of these things. They need, instead, to find a way to make the financial system function again.

Hamish McRae: It won't be the Great Depression all over again – or even the '70s or '80s

Sunday, 5 October 2008

The mills grind on. One of the troubles with this banking crisis is that the official response to it has been very confusing. This is a global problem that originated in the US, so what the US does is of prime importance. But although financial institutions are international, regulation is national. And the prime duty of national governments is to preserve the security of their systems. So we are now moving into competitive regulation, where individual governments such as Ireland and Greece seek to improve the position of their own system relative to others. There is nothing wrong with that. Why shouldn't regulatory competition bring benefits, just as other forms of competition do?

Margareta Pagano: Will China tip the US 'balance of financial terror'?

Sunday, 5 October 2008

The former US Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, calls it the "the balance of financial terror". A noted academic, Summers, who served under President Bill Clinton, was referring to the relationship between the US and its newer creditors, such as China, the Middle East and Russia. Foreign countries now own nearly a quarter, some $2.6 trillion, of the total US debt. They also own more than $14 trillion in US assets – that's more than the total US national output.

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: Brown stakes his future on handling of the credit crunch

Saturday, 4 October 2008

Mandy back. The Gov-ernor of the Bank of England forced to eat his words on moral hazard and say he'll give the banking system all the liquidity it needs. Interest rates about to be cut by a half a percentage point. Deposit insurance raised to £50,000 with consultation on going higher still. All that and the Chancellor says he'll guarantee the deposits of any bank that runs into trouble too.

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: Brown needs to be more bold in dealing with banking crisis

Friday, 3 October 2008

The politics of the credit crunch have become almost as interesting as the economics, not just in the US, but here in Britain too. For the first time since he ducked out of calling a snap, early general election a year ago, Gordon Brown has the chance to seize back the political initiative with some bold decision-making that restores the reputation he once enjoyed as the "iron Chancellor".

Hamish McRae: Once horror story is over, we must focus on the real economy

Thursday, 2 October 2008

People have been told the economy is going to hell in a hand cart so some will believe this might happen

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: Are governments getting it right on bank bailouts?

Thursday, 2 October 2008

WPP shifts tax domicile to Ireland; Bolton calls the bottom on stock markets

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: UK Government may need to guarantee deposits

Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Banks, it is sometimes said, are only as safe as the ability of home governments to bail them out. Markets have deemed Ireland's banks so unsafe that the Irish government has had to honour this understanding by guaranteeing the deposits of six of its major players. Might Britain and other European countries be forced to follow suit?

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