According to a report released today by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), there have now been 1.046 million personal bankruptcies since the start of the year. This is the highest since the first nine months of 2005 when people were rushing to file before the draconian new bankruptcy act of 2005 took effect (still better than the Victorian days of debtor prisons, but not much).   The institute expects to see the total for the year top 1.4 million. I think they are being conservative, especially given the rise in the unemployed, particularly the long-term unemployed. In September, there were 124,709 consumer bankruptcies, up 41% from a year ago. The graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows the history of bankruptcy filings since 1996 by quarter. The third quarter numbers come from the monthly ABI numbers; the quarterly numbers are from the administrative office of the U.S. courts.   If ...

Hey, the economy is not only recovering…it’s becoming better than ever before!

“Banks recover to their levels before the fall of Lehman,” is a headline in this Monday’s El Pais from Madrid.

“Public assistance enables the world’s largest 15 financial firms to return to the capitalization they had in September 2008,” the article continues. The largest of the largest, HSBC, is now judged to be worth $186 billion, according to the stock market. China’s ICBC is on its heels, with a market cap of $178 billion. BNP Paribas is 7th at $87 billion.

We will overlook the compromising detail that banks actually lost money in the last quarter – more than $3 billion. And let’s forget that China’s major banks are sitting on mega-losses from more than eight years ago (to say nothing of the more recent losses). Western banks, too, still have billions in assets whose real worth is an open question…and

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Risk Aversion comes back strong! Risk assets get sold… What games will be played with TIC’s? 40 years since Woodstock! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! A great weekend that was filled with watching my little buddy, Alex, play football, hosting a surprise 30th birthday party for my little girl, Dawn, and a sweep of the Padres by the Cardinals! This week gets cut short with me a the helm, as I head to San Francisco on Thursday. Chris will have the conn on the Pfennig Thursday through Monday.

Well… Who’d a thunk it? Yes, who would have thought that the U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence could turn the markets upside down and spoil the party? Well… It happened on Friday! The

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As you can see, more green shoots! Boy this stimulus sure is working. US Sen Bunning: FDIC#8217;s Bair Said Up To 500 More Banks Could Fail By Jessica Holzer, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair believes up to 500 more banks could fail, a U.S. senator said Bair told him [...]div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?i=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?i=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:l6gmwiTKsz0"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?a=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/YourFinancialFuture?i=sGkRxWbazfc:K2usq4yFtUY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /div

TODAY: Re-set still top of the headlines; military disarmament a benefit or a loss for Russia?; Caucasus talks see no resolution; Russian academy invitation to denounce 'falsifiers'; legendary Soviet singer diesThe Moscow Times reports on Barack Obama's comments on his first trip to Russia, four years ago: 'Thinking of the Russians more as partners does mean being more thoughtful, respectful and consistent about what we say and what we do'.  ITAR-TASS reports that the Presidents have had a telephone conversation in advance of their meeting.  In the Washington Post there is an analysis of the riddles that abound in Russia political identity; with Putin's anti-Americanism and authoritarianism, will Obama strike more of a chord with fellow ...

Jobless Claims Surprise; GDP Revised Up; AIG Makes Plans to Pay Back Feds; Palm Losses Mount, But Revenue Beats Street; Micron Loss Not As Much As Expected; Senator: Health Care Bill Could Cost $1 Trillion; GM Keeps 1,200 Jobs in Michigan

Unemployment claims unexpectedly rose yesterday (Thursday), asthe number of U.S. workers filing new claims jumped by 15,000 in the week ended June 20 to a seasonally adjusted 627,000, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 617,250 from 616,750, signaling the U.S. job market is stagnant. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a 5.5% annual rate in the first quarter after plunging at a 6.3% pace in the fourth quarter of 2008, the Commerce Department said yesterday (Thursday). That means the U.S. economy just went through itsworst eight-month period in more than 60 years, ...