Global Economic Collapse

Germany has entered a recession, revised official figures have revealed, after high prices took a bigger toll on the country’s economy than originally estimated.

Corporate bankruptcies are edging back up after a two-year lull as pressures in the economy grow, a situation sure to worsen if the nation’s political leaders fail to reach a deal to prevent the government from defaulting on its debt.

In the last decade, 37 traders and brokers have been prosecuted by the US Department of Justice and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for their roles in 'rigging' interest-rates during the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).

CEO Jamie Dimon said Thursday that markets will be gripped by panic as the U.S. approaches a possible default on its sovereign debt.

Update (10:50am):  Moments after the FT report which sent WAL shared plunging to $11 (after closing at $30 yesterday), the company rushed out a press release to announce that the FT article is "absolutely false"

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Amid turbulence in the U.S. banking system, nearly half of Americans are anxious about the safety of the money they have in accounts at banks or other financial institutions. A total of 48% of U.S. adults say they are concerned about their money, including 19% who are “very” and 29% who are “moderately” worried. At the same time, 30% are “not too worried” and 20% are “not worried at all.”

Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, has played down the risk of a spiralling banking crisis after America’s biggest bank stepped in to buy most of collapsed lender First Republic in a $10.6bn (£8.5bn) takeover hurriedly brokered by US regulators.

Lender teetered for weeks after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March

Last week the House passed legislation increasing the debt ceiling. The bill was supported by all but four Republicans. For some Republicans, this was the first time they had ever voted for a debt ceiling increase. Perhaps the reason they did so this time was because the legislation also promised to reduce federal spending by $4.5 trillion over the next decade. Most of those spending reductions are achieved by rolling back Fiscal Year spending to 2022 levels and then limiting increases in spending to one percent for the next ten years. The bill also returns unspent COVID relief money to the US Treasury and eliminates President Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs.

Investors are reconsidering the risk that the U.S. economy could be about to tip into a recession, following fresh evidence that the red-hot labor market is finally loosening up.