US economy: A market on the move

An acceleration in the writing down of bad loans left over from the credit bubble is raising hopes of a widely beneficial housing recovery – as shown by the tale of one family home in Florida. By Dan McCrum and Michael MacKenzie

The proposal to limit payday lending rates raises a nice contrast between the libertarian and statist lefts.

The Wall Street Journal has a story about Vermont and subprime loans: …For the past five years, as home loans went to even Americans with poor credit and no proof of steady work, Ms. Todd couldn’t get a mortgage in spite of her good credit and low debt. Vermont banks told the self-employed landscaper that her income stream was unreliable. The 32-year-old changed careers, taking a permanent job as a teacher, to boost her chances.

Despite some encouraging signs, the UK economy remains in trouble, reports The Telegraph.

By Tim Iacono: With just one day left to “save the euro” (as policymakers put it early last week), it appears that Lucy is about the pull the ball out from under Charlie Brown’s swinging foot one last time and, perhaps after this big miss, Charlie will wind up flat on his back and stay there.

Steven HorwitzIn this week's Freeman column, I discuss legislation just passed in Arizona making it the 17th state to limit the interest rates that so-called "payday" lenders can charge on their short-term, no credit check loans.  Arizona, like many of the other states, has capped the effective annual interest rate these firms can charge to 36%.  The result is that these lenders just leave those states, abandoning the populations who can only find access to c

It's obvious that the economy still isn't doing well.  Furthermore the rate of foreclosures won't peak until the end of 2010.  On top of that, most observers agree that the Obama mortgage modification plan has been a failure. That all said, I'm surprised that so few commentators have leapt on the "we should write off some of the principal" bandwagon.  It's not currently a bandwagon at all.

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.Given the plethora of market uncertainties, investors have over the past few months started placing an increasing emphasis on dividend yield. In particular, multi-national companies operating in regions or sectors that would enable them to grow dividends over the next few years have gained favor.