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Bank of Nova Scotia ... the Canadian lender missed fourth-quarter profit estimates as uncertain economic climate prompted it to set aside more funds to guard against bad loans. Scotiabank kicks off Canadian banks' earning season, wrapping up a financial year marked with economic uncertainty, rising credit loss provisions as more consumers struggle to pay off their mortgages, layoffs to cut costs, and rising expenses. The bank's shares fell nearly 5% in early trading, dragging down Canada's main stock index (.GSPTSE). Lenders have been bracing for a surge in loan defaults as effects of the central bank's monetary policy tightening flow...

A massive $124.5 billion worth of bonds are now in default in the entire $175 billion China property dollar bond sector ... Counting October, there is a total of $60.5 billion worth of Chinese property bonds due in the next 6 months, with offshore bonds taking up at least one third of it .... Country Garden's international bondholders are now seeking urgent talks with the company. Strains have also shown in other companies. State-backed Sino-Ocean Group ... Another major developer Gemdale .. seen its bonds slide after the resignation of its chairman sparked fears that it too may be in...

President Biden warned Wednesday that if the United States defaulted on its debt, it would spell trouble internationally, after his latest meeting with congressional leaders to raise the country’s borrowing limit hardly made a dent in the debate. The president, during remarks in Valhalla, N.Y., said that world leaders are wondering about the looming risk of a default. “They all are looking at me, ‘are you guys serious?’” Biden said, referencing world leaders. “Because, if we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble.”

The highest interest rates in 15 years are delaying home dreams, putting business plans on ice and forcing many Americans to agree to loan terms that would have been unimaginable just nine months ago. Biden’s anti-fossil fuel policies are helping drive up prices and The Federal Reserve is hiking rates to cool it off. Most of all, the surge in borrowing costs is punishing the cash-poor. And it’s about to get worse as the Federal Reserve carries on with its anti-inflation campaign and keeps hiking rates next year. As the Fed’s most aggressive interest-rate hike cycle in a generation filters...

The Department of Education expanded the grounds under which students may be freed from their obligation to repay college loans. Under the new rules, students may be absolved from the obligation to repay loans if the education they received was inadequate. Secretary John King, Jr. explained that “much of what passes as education in our major universities is just crap. Universities know that majoring in ‘women’s studies,’ ‘gender studies,’ philosophy, and the like, won’t prepare graduates for high-paying jobs. Why should naive and ignorant young people have to bear the consequences that could have been avoided if they had received...

Electric cars are showing up all over the place, but hydrogen fuel-cell cars have lagged behind, with only three Asian makers committed to offering them in the U.S. That's partly because setting up a network of hydrogen stations to fuel them is slow and expensive. Now Nissan has a better idea. Rather than pumping hydrogen into the cars at very high pressure, the company proposes to offer a different kind of fuel-cell car — one that is filled with ethanol instead. That fuel, or an ethanol-and-water blend, is "reformed" to produce a supply of hydrogen on board the car itself....

Bond guru Bill Gross believes the growing global move toward negative yields will have dire consequences. In a tweet from his firm, Janus Capital, Gross goes back half a millennium to assert that the current situation with the world's debt market is unprecedented and dangerous: The warning comes as yields on Japanese government bonds and German bunds hit record lows.

The Department of Commerce today announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the anti-dumping duty investigations of imports of cold-rolled steel flat products from Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In the Brazil investigation, mandatory respondent Companhia Siderurgica Nacional received a calculated preliminary dumping margin of 38.93%. The second mandatory respondent, Usiminas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais, did not respond to all of Commerce’s requests for information, and therefore received a dumping margin based on adverse facts available. Usiminas and all other producers/exporters in Brazil also received a preliminary dumping margin of 38.93%. China Receives Heavy Duties...

Economist, radio host, and CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow appeared on Breitbart News Daily Friday morning to discuss economic issues in the presidential race, including his support for Donald Trump’s economic platform, with some disagreement about the best way to handle unfair Chinese trade practices.

The global financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, a leading monetary theorist has warned. "The situation is worse than it was in 2007. Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up," said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD's review committee and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). "Debts have continued to build up over the last eight years and they have reached such levels in every part of the world that they have become a potent cause for...

Poor Spain. The economic news continues to be woeful, even though Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy thinks the worst is over. But Spain’s housing and mortgage markets continue to melt down Spain currently has a record high default rate on loans of 12.2%. spainloandelinq101813 And Spain’s number of newly mortgaged properties keep declining. spainmorg8 If we overlay Spain’s continually declining house prices, we get an interesting picture … of continued decline in Spain. spainhpdelinqloans Here is a chart for the US housing and mortgage market. The US also has declining residential mortgages outstanding, but at least has turned the corner...

According to todayÂ’s May Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, they found that the national delinquency rate continued to fall in May, marking the largest year-to-date drop since 2002. Delinquencies are down more than 15 percent since the end of December 2012, coming in at 6.08 percent for the month. New problem loan rates are approaching the pre-crisis average. newdelinqlps Here is a quick summary of the LPS report: 1. 6.08% of mortgages were delinquent in May, down from 6.21% in April. 2. 3.05% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, down from 4.12% in May 2012. 3....

Strategic defaulters, beware. The feds are coming for you. And they are not happy. Not the FBI. The Office of the Inspector General at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The OIG may not have the same fearsome "G-man" reputation as its better-known counterparts at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it is every bit as much a law enforcement agency, with the same powers to search, seize and arrest. Special OIG agents are even authorized to carry firearms. The OIG's mission is to seek administrative sanctions, civil recoveries and criminal prosecutions against anyone who abuses the FHFA's programs. And it...

CHART OF THE DAY: KYLE BASS: This Is What The End Of The Global Debt Super-Cycle Looks Like Joe Weisenthal Dec. 1, 2011, 10:39 AM In his latest investor letter (via Gurufocus), Kyle Bass lays out his case that a wave of hard defaults is coming. His basic argument: The world is just saddled with too much debt. Throughout history, he says, total debt-to-GDP only ever breached 200% when nations were spending on war. Today we're at 310%. Says Bass: "There is no savior large enough with a magical pool of capital to stafe off this unfortunate conclusion to the...

We Have Our Own eCat Says Defkalion November 20, 2011 | Author: admin An article in the Greek publication Tovima quotes Defkalion’s Alexander Xanthoulis as saying that the company has the eCat technology independent of Rossi and is almost ready to roll. They claim that their system is stable and that Rossi’s is not. According to their version of the split, that instability was at its centre and that AR did not demonstrate the eCat to the required specification – that of a stable run lasting at least 48 hours. Tovima Googlated: “We not only continue our program and we...

In this interview Rickards discusses his extraordinary new book Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis. He also lets King World News listeners know what to expect regarding gold manipulation, the ongoing currency wars and much more. The KWN audio interview with Jim Rickards is available now...

The still-neutral Club for Growth weighs in on Herman Cain's polling surge, in a statement suggesting that Cain has a chance of winning over the powerful advocacy group: “Herman Cain is surging in the polls because his clear message of limited government and economic freedom is resonating,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Cain has articulated a strong vision for putting America back on the path to prosperity. A clear message promoting economic growth, like the one Herman Cain is presenting, is essential to defeating Obama. Republican primary voters ought to give Herman Cain a close look. We are.”...

One day after the government is set to default on its debts, Barack Obama could be the guest of honor at a 50th birthday celebration where the cost of attendance tops out at $35,800 per couple. Okay, it's not likely if the government defaults that the president will be partying it up. But the timing of Obama's Aug. 3 birthday bash is raising some eyebrows. The White House said earlier this week the president's Aug. 3 party could be canceled if a deal is not reached by Aug. 2. As of now, however, the event is "not on hold," ...

If Greece defaults on its debt, the direct secondary effects on financial institutions could be much worse than what we saw after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The collapse of Lehman Brothers sent shockwaves through the global financial system—in part because it revealed that the United States government was willing to let a large, interconnected, complex financial company go bankrupt. Panic erupted, threatening the financial stability of other companies. But the actual direct effects were few. ... high concentration of sovereign debt in European banks raises the possibility that the banks may be severely undercapitalized—and may require a government recapitalization...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday told Republican lawmakers that they would shoulder the blame if the country got too close to defaulting on its debt and roiled markets worldwide by not approving a debt limit increase. In yet another warning about the perils of not allowing the U.S. to borrow more to fund spending already approved by Congress, Geithner said it would be deeply irresponsible for lawmakers to use debt limit negotiations for political gains.