Timeline: Key events in financial crisis

Timeline: Key events in financial crisis
USATODAY 12:19 p.m. EDT September 9, 2013

These were some of the key events in the financial crisis that became the Great Recession.

Housing crisis deepens. Banks and hedge funds that invested big in SUBPRIME MORTGAGES are left with worthless assets as foreclosures rise. The damage reaches the top echelons of Wall Street:

Feb. 27: Mortgage giant Freddie Mac says it will no longer buy the most risky subprime loans.

April 2: SUBPRIME MORTGAGE lender New Century Financial files for bankruptcy-court protection.

July 31: Investment bank Bear Stearns liquidates two hedge funds that invested in risky securities backed by subprime MORTGAGE LOANS.

Aug. 6: American Home Mortgage Investment, which specializes in adjustable-rate mortgages, files for bankruptcy protection.

Aug. 16: Fitch Ratings cuts the CREDIT RATING of giant mortgage lender Countrywide Financial to its third-lowest investment-grade rating.

2008

The U.S. economy is in recession. The crisis in SUBPRIME MORTGAGES infects the credit markets.

Jan. 11: BANK OF AMERICA, the biggest U.S. bank by market value, agrees to buy Countrywide Financial for about $4 billion.

March 16: The Federal Reserve agrees to guarantee $30 billion of Bear Stearns' assets in connection with the government-sponsored sale of the INVESTMENT BANK to JPMorgan Chase.

July 11: Federal regulators seize IndyMac Federal BANK after it becomes the largest regulated thrift to fail.

September:

7: MORTGAGE giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are taken over by the government.

15: BANK OF AMERICA agrees to purchase Merrill Lynch for $50 billion.

15: Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy-court protection.

16: American International Group, the world's largest insurer, accepts an $85 billion federal bailout that gives the government a 79.9% stake in the company.

21: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two independent INVESTMENT BANKS, will become BANK holding companies subject to greater regulation by the Federal Reserve.

25: Federal regulators close Washington Mutual Bank and its branches and assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase in the biggest U.S. bank failure in history.

29: Congress rejects a $700 billion Wall Street financial rescue package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 778 points, its single-worst point drop ever.

Oct. 3: Congress passes a revised version of TARP and President Bush signs it. Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. bank on the West Coast, agrees to buy Wachovia for about $14.8 billion.

Nov. 18: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler executives testify before Congress, requesting federal LOANS from TARP.

Nov. 23: The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agree to rescue Citigroup with a package of guarantees, FUNDING access and capital. Citigroup will issue preferred shares to the Treasury and FDIC in exchange for protection against losses on a $306 billion pool of commercial and residential securities it holds.

Dec. 19: The U.S. Treasury authorizes LOANS of up to $13.4 billion for General Motors and $4.0 billion for Chrysler from TARP.

Sources timeline.stlouisfed.org, AP, Bloomberg.com

Russia Plans to Increase Arms Exports to $50Bln by 2020

Russia Plans to Increase Arms Exports to $50Bln by 2020

MILITARY & INTELLIGENCE
19:20 12.12.2013
Topic: Russian arms exports

Russia could quadruple its annual arms sales to $50 billion by 2020 in a race for the top spot on the global arms exporters list, a senior government official said Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia could quadruple its annual arms sales to $50 billion by 2020 in a race for the top spot on the global arms exporters list, a senior government official said Thursday.

“Not counting inflation, I think we could reach $50 billion [in arms exports] annually by 2020,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Moscow. “It is four times the current amount.”

Rogozin said there was no doubt that Russia would not only maintain second place on the list of top arms exporters but would also narrow the gap between second and first place, which is currently occupied by the United States.

The US sold $69.1 billion worth of weaponry to foreign customers last year, according to the US Department of Defense.

Russia became the world’s second-largest arms exporter in 2011, generating $13.2 billion in revenues.

Last year, Russia exported $15.2 billion worth of weaponry while adding Afghanistan, Ghana, Oman and Tanzania to a list of about 80 foreign customers.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20131212/185500641.html#ixzz3YmTxNbdZ

China Now Owns a Record $1.317T of U.S. Government Debt

China Now Owns a Record $1.317T of U.S. Government Debt
By Matt Egan Published January 16, 2014 FOX Business

China stepped up its purchases of U.S. government DEBT late last year, increasing its holdings of Treasuries to an all-time record of $1.317 trillion in November, government data released this week revealed.

The statistics underscore how reliant the U.S. and Chinese economies are on one another even as political tensions occasionally emerge.

According to figures inadvertently released Wednesday evening on the U.S. Treasury Department website, China’s holdings of Treasuries increased by 0.9% in November to $1.317 trillion, up from $1.305 trillion in October. Year-over-year, China’s holdings rose 11.3% from $1.183 trillion.

The $1.317 trillion figure exceeds China’s previous record high in July 2011 of $1.315 trillion, according to the government data.

China’s appetite for government debt has been driven by its huge amount of foreign-exchange reserves, which surged to a record of $3.82 trillion at the end of 2013. The demand for Treasurys does not appear to have been seriously eroded by concerns about the U.S. fiscal situation.

In recent months, the U.S. has managed to slash the federal deficit thanks to higher tax revenue and payments from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Earlier this week, the government revealed a budget surplus of $53 billion in December.

The additional purchases of Treasuries, which are believed to be among the most secure and liquid assets in the world, widen China’s lead in this category.

The next closest foreign holder of U.S. DEBT is Japan, which increased its holdings to $1.186 trillion from $1.174 trillion in October.

Following those Asian giants, the leading holder of Treasuries is a category called “Caribbean BANKING centers,” which includes the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the offshore financial hub of the Cayman Islands. This group of countries held about $290.9 billion of Treasury securities in November, down from $291.9 billion in October.

Follow Matt Egan on Twitter @MattMEgan5

8 Facts about China's Investments in Africa

8 Facts about China's Investments in Africa
Fred Dews | May 20, 2014 1:53pm
Below are selected data from her paper "Africa in China's Foreign Policy."

1) By the end of 2009, 45.7 percent of China's cumulative foreign aid of ¥256.29 billion had been given to countries in Africa.

2) China is Africa's largest TRADING partner, surpassing the United States in 2009.

3) In 2012, China's trade with Africa reached $198.5 billion, while U.S.-African trade in 2012 was $99.8 billion.

4) China's trade with Africa is only 5 percent of its GLOBAL TRADE total.

5) More than 80 percent of China's $93.2 billion in imports from Africa in 2011 were crude oil, raw materials and resources.

6) In 2011, China's INVESTMENT in Africa was 4.3 percent of its global total (Asia represented 60.9 percent, Latin America 16 percent, and Europe 11.1 percent).

7) In 2012, the China Development BANK agreed to provide $3 billion in LOANS to Ghana, which was almost 10 percent of Ghana's GDP.

8) South Africa is China's largest trading partner in Africa, at a volume of $20.2 billion. Yet this is 4 percent of China's trade with the European Union.

"[O]verall," writes Sun, "Africa's strategic importance for Beijing remains low." In the years to come, China's engagement with Africa is expected to grow. 

இந்திய இலங்கை வர்த்தக ஏற்றத்தாழ்வு!

குறிப்பு: உலக வர்த்தக நிறுவனத்தின் கடந்த ஆண்டு அறிக்கையின் தரவுகளின் அடிப்படையில் இலங்கை இந்தியாவிடமிருந்து 17.4 மில்லியன் அமெரிக்க டொலர் பெறுமதிக்கு இறக்குமதி செய்துள்ளது.ஆனால் இந்தியாவுக்கான இலங்கையின் ஏற்றுமதியோ ஆக 5.4 மில்லியன் அமெரிக்க டொலர்கள் தான்.
இது தென்னாசிய சகோதரத்துவமா? உலகமய இந்திய விரிவாதிக்கமா??