by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2009 11:33:00 PM

Thursday morning: Retail sales for February.

The futures: (U.S. off a little)

Bloomberg Futures.

CBOT mini-sized Dow

CME Globex Flash Quotes

Futures from barchart.com

And the Asian markets. (Nikkei off about 1.0%)

And a graph of the Asian markets.

Best to all.

by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2009 07:01:00 PM

This is amazing ...

From the Boston Globe: Now-needy FDIC collected little in premiums (ht Atrios)

The federal agency that insures bank deposits, which is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks, is facing a potential major shortfall in part because it collected no insurance premiums from most banks from 1996 to 2006.

... a booming economy left banks flush with cash, and by 1996 the insurance fund was considered so large that it could grow through interest payments and fees charged only to banks with high credit risk. Congress agreed that premiums didn't need to be collected if the fund was sustained at a level that was considered safe. Thus, about 95 percent of banks paid no premiums from 1996 to 2006 ...

James Chessen, chief economist of the American Bankers Association, said that it made sense at the time to stop collecting most premiums because "the fund became so large that interest income on the fund was covering the premiums for almost a decade." There were relatively few bank failures and no projection of the current economic collapse, he said.

"Obviously hindsight is 20-20," Chessen said.

Hoocoodanode?

by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2009 04:56:00 PM

Press Release: Freddie Mac Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2008 Financial Results

Freddie Mac today reported a net loss of $23.9 billion ...

For the full-year 2008, the company reported a net loss of $50.1 billion ...

Fourth quarter 2008 results were driven primarily by net mark-to-market losses of $13.3 billion on the company’s derivative portfolio, guarantee asset and trading securities due to the impacts of spread widening and declines in interest rates. In addition, the company recorded $7.2 billion in credit-related expenses related to the continued deterioration in economic conditions during the fourth quarter, including a rapid deterioration in labor markets, steeper declines in home prices, and a drop in consumer confidence to record lows. Results were also impacted by security impairments on the company’s available-for-sale securities of $7.5 billion primarily due to sustained deterioration in the performance of the underlying collateral on the company’s non-agency mortgage-related securities.

... Pursuant to Treasury’s funding commitment under the Purchase Agreement, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has submitted a request to Treasury for funding in the amount of $30.8 billion. The company expects to receive such funds in March 2009.
emphasis added

The $30.8 billion in funding is in line with the announcement in January.

by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2009 04:07:00 PM

The markets were calm today ... so here is something else.

Earlier today, the BLS released the state unemployment rates for January. Four states are now above 10%: Michigan, South Carolina, Rhode Island and California.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the unemployment rate by state (and D.C.) for January 2008 and January 2009.

The unemployment rate has increased significantly in every state, and more than doubled in Hawaii and Alabama over the last 12 months - and has nearly doubled in North Carolina, Indiana and Oregon.

There is pain everywhere.

by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2009 03:04:00 PM

From Rex Nutting at MarketWatch: Budget deficit widens 10% as receipts fall to 14-year low

U.S. federal government budget widened to $192.8 billion in February ... the second largest monthly deficit on record ... receipts dropped 17% to $87.3 billion, the lowest since February 1995.

In February, individual income taxes fell 64% to just $8.7 billion. That's the lowest monthly total for individual income taxes since May 1985.

Ouch!