Hello my boy. Hope your are thriving. Around here the woods are full of hunters and the hunters don't know it yet.... but they are taking happy little momentos home with them as guest for the week ahead.... hundreds of deer ticks. The last time I went in the woods my dog had more than 50 deer ticks... I just stopped counting at 50.
Anyway Iwanted to post this on the thread from the Wall Street Journal. I already posted it on to Bonnie "B" and thought it might be interesting to the rest of you.
The following appeared in the Wall Stret Journal today Monday November 23, 1998. I hope they won't take me away in handcuffs for copying their text....
What is interestng about it is that I distinctly remembered reading this article over the weekend and as I re-read the article again today I notice the text was changed. On the weekend the text read something like this, "....large banks are carefully scrutinizing the collaterazl offered by smaller banks.... before they extend credits to small banking institions." Hmmmm. Interesting deletion. What? What?
Copyright (C) The Wall Street Journal
For Private Use only
"Many Banks Tighten Lending Practices,
Fueling Speculation of a Credit Crunch
By ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- Many banks are tightening lending practices, a Federal Reserve survey shows, rekindling speculation of a near-term credit crunch.
The survey of senior loan officers at 55 U.S. and foreign banks was a factor in the Fed's decision to cut interest rates last week. More than a third of domestic banks said they had tightened overall lending standards in the past three months, the highest level since 1990".
( between times threadsteres at ..... bog.frb.fed.us information about the survey of loan officers, including downloadable data, is available on the Federal Reserve Web site. Adobe Acrobat, a free download from www.adobe.com/adobe is required to view some parts of the survey.)
Moving along....
"The quarterly poll asks lenders about changes in the supply and demand for bank loans to businesses and households.
"The survey results suggest a broad tightening of business lending practices," the Fed said in the survey.
Citing increased concern over the economic outlook, a large share of the participants indicated they had firmed standards and terms on loans to large and middle-market businesses and on commercial real-estate loans. The survey also found that demand for business and commercial loans jumped a bit, partly because it was more difficult to raise money in the securities market.
"Unlike recent surveys," the Fed said, "some banks also reported having tightened standards and terms on loans to small businesses."
The tightening "is more of a catalyst" to a slowdown, said Bruce Steinberg, a senior economist for Merrill Lynch & Co. "But if this continues to get worse, we'll have a credit crunch."
Though not a direct precursor to a recession, some economists believe reduced lending by banks can exacerbate an economic slowdown by curbing consumer and business spending, a major contributor to economic growth.
Although recent economic reports suggest the economy continues to grow at a healthy pace -- inflation-adjusted gross domestic product advanced at an annual rate of 3.3% in the third quarter -- it is widely believed that the economy will weaken in the coming months, especially as recession spreads to Latin American and further expands the U.S. trade deficit.
Indeed, last week's move by the Fed to lower interest rates was intended to inoculate the U.S. against the threat of recession and to quell market jitters. The Fed lowered short-term interest rates for the third time since September to 4.75%.
Nearly half the banks surveyed said they had tightened their standards for commercial and industrial loans since September. Some banks also maintained strict lending policies for small businesses.
A majority said they had restricted interbank lending within the past three months, reflecting a more guarded posture toward Japanese institutions.
Loans to households seemed to remain stable. More than half the banks surveyed said demand for home loans rose, while few banks reported changes in standards for home mortgages. Banks' willingness to make consumer installment loans was unchanged".
Maybe I just imagined the deletion but I really thought it as the pith ofthe artilce and wanted to re read it and poooff....it has just magically vaporized.
Between times check out Max Mosley's latest on
chebucto.ns.ca
Max is a god damned one man city on a hill.... in a landscape full of pot holes, drunken repairmen and deer ticks.
Best to you all,
Clark |
