Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Two more Italian banks failed over the weekend– Banco Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.
(In other news, the sky is blue.)
The Italian Prime Minister himself stated that depositors’ funds were at risk, so the government stepped in with a bailout and guarantee package that could cost taxpayers as much as 17 billion euros.
We finally have some good news for the distressed US retail industry.
In light of recent deteriorating spending trends within the luxury segment, with Bank of America internal card data showing a relentless decline in retail spending among the wealthiest segment...
... one would perhaps think that the conspicuous consumption excesses that marked the peak of the last bubble were long behind us.
By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at
I warn you... I'll get hate mail for this. I am a bad person.
Perhaps, I spent too much time in European cities because Athens and Greece in particular always failed to impress me.
Ok, they have a lot of crumbly buildings. But so do every other country in the region. Ephesus is more impressive than the Panthenon. The Colosseum more impressive than the Valley of the Temples.
Authored by Bob Williams via Platts 'The Barrel' blog,
Oil majors thirsty for reserves likely to line up for any lease sale
President Trump has uncorked yet another controversy over energy vs the environment and it promises to be a heavyweight battle.
The White House budget proposal includes a revenue line of almost $2 billion from selling oil and gas leases in the richly oil-prospective northeastern coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
It's widely known that the Federal Reserve has been tasked by Congress with a "dual mandate" to maintain stable consumer-goods prices, low unemployment and - oh yes - buoyant equity prices. However, as Reuters revealed on Monday, the central bank has another legally binding obligation that might upset some of its clients: Helping the US intelligence community spy on foreign governments.