Merrill Lynch & Co. posted a $6.5 billion on mortgage write downs, the third straight quarterly loss.

Despite the fact Fed policy makers cut the rates seven times already since September 2007, which amounts to a total of 3% decrease in borrowing costs, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped only half a percentage compared to the same period.

The dollar’s vulnerability was highly underscored by the announcement of South Korean’s National Pension Fund that would no longer buy US treasuries as yields were too low.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the largest underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds is eliminating 5% of its total employees.

When the numbers do the talk… see below a list of the most important equity indices from around the world and their year to date percentage change.…

A report released on March 7 by the Labor Department showed that job cuts continued in February for the second straight month.

Growth is weakening everywhere, but most in US. The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and the weakest in almost three years versus the yen.

Housing statistics for the state of California were released by the California Association of Realtors (CAR).

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. the second largest US home improvement chain, announced a sharp fall in 4th quarter profits.

Wal-Mart has announced 4th quarter figures better and higher than expected. Sales per store increased by 1.7% and gross margin improved by 0.5%. A very small increase,…

Cadbury announced full year 2007 results that were in line with analysts expectations.
Is that a good thing?