If Saudi Arabia’s oil production has peaked, then global production has peaked. From The Oil Drum: Saudi Arabia’s historical crude oil production indicates a peak of 9.6 million barrels/day in 2005. In 2008, crude production was 9.3 mbd. In 2009 it is forecast to be 8.1 mbd followed by an increase in 2010 to 8.5 […]
From Calculated Risk: New home sales in January 2009 (309 thousand SAAR) were 10.2% lower than last month, and were 48% lower than January 2008 (597 million SAAR). See link for graphs of sales and inventory. There was some discussion that the seasonal adjustment might be distorting the sales number. The following graph of the […]
From Calculated Risk: The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309 thousand. This is the lowest sales rate the Census Bureau has ever recorded (starting in 1963). The graph shows New Home Sales vs. recessions for the last 45 years. New Home sales have fallen […]
From Calculated Risk: Both the monthly indices (20 cities and 2 composites) and the quarterly national index were released this morning. I’ll have more on the national index shortly. The Composite 10 is off 19.2% over the last year. The Composite 20 is off 18.5% over the last year. These are the worst year-over-year price […]
From Calculated Risk: This graph shows the overall consumer confidence index from the Conference Board (graph from Northern Trust). The Present Situation Index (not shown) is low, but not as low as in some earlier recessions (the Present Situation Index is at 21.2, it fell to 16.2 in 1982). What pulled down the overall index […]
by Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com Nearly one quarter of Papua New Guinea’s rainforests were damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002, report researchers writing in the journal Biotopica. The results, which were published in a report last June, show that Papua New Guinea is losing forests at a much faster rate than previously believed. Over […]
From Calculated Risk: The American Institute of Architects reports: Another Historic Low for Architecture Billings Index Note that historically there is an “approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending”. The ABI fell off a cliff in early 2008 and we are just starting to see that decline show up […]
From Tamino: One of the most dramatic signs of the recent drought is the level of lakes in the region. The level for lake Alexandrina is at a remarkable all-time low, presently half a meter below sea level. Drought in Australia Technorati Tags: Australia,drought,global warming
Here is today’s snapshot of the Icelandic stock market. It has dropped even lower, if that’s possible, down 1.1% today. I really hope we don’t have to evacuate Iceland to avert mass starvation there. Technorati Tags: Iceland,financial collapse
From Calculated Risk: After the excellent stock market returns in January (just kidding – actually the worst January ever), it is probably time to check in on the Four Bad Bear markets … first, from MarketWatch: U.S. stocks end worst January on record with more losses The S&P 500 index fell 19 points, or 2.3%, […]
