– Icelandic government becomes first to be brought down by the credit crunch (Daily Mail)
– Iceland’s prime minister resigns (Financial Times)
– Obama Presses Lawmakers on Stimulus, Accountability (Bloomberg):
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama pressed congressional leaders to reach a consensus on an $825 billion stimulus plan, warning the country may be facing an “unprecedented” economic crisis.
– Obama team accuses China of manipulating its currency (Guardian)
– Geithner Hints at Harder Line on China Trade (New York Times):
WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner, who moved closer to confirmation as Treasury secretary on Thursday, told senators that President Obama believed China was “manipulating” its currency, suggesting a more confrontational stance toward that country than under the Bush administration. (More change!)
– Good bank, bad bank all adds up to nationalization (Reuters)
– China prepares for the Year of the Slump (Guardian)
– Sterling plunges to record lows (Financial Times – 23 Jan 2009)
– Recession figures heighten the gloom (Independent)
– Financial crisis: It’s impossible to get any hard facts and figures from British banks (Telegraph)
– Just The Early Stages of Economic and Financial Collapse (The International Forecaster)
– Boston Scientific Founders Bash Baby on Lehman Bets (Bloomberg):
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — The men who built Boston Scientific Corp. into the world’s biggest seller of heart stents have dumped $484 million in shares to repay loans after other assets were frozen by the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy.
– Bank deposits at ECB drop sharply (Financial Times):
Deposits have now fallen by €171.5bn over the past two days and are almost two-thirds down from the record €315.3bn reached less than a fortnight ago.
– Where You Won’t Shop In 2009 (Forbes)
– Microsoft’s days as an unstoppable force are over (Telegraph)
– Samsung suffers its first quarterly loss (Financial Times)
– GE profit falls 43% to $3.9bn (Financial Times)
– Australian wine exports collapse (Telegraph)